Protest takes place in Belfast ahead of G8 summit

The march saw a major security presence at the city’s Custom House square.

An estimated 1,500 people, including human rights and anti-capitalist protesters, braved torrential rain as they walked through streets.

There were initially no signs of the disorder that some in Belfast had feared, although many shops front have been boarded up as a precaution.

Hundreds of public order police officers flanked the route with fortified Land Rover-type vehicles also parked up and helicopters circling overhead.

Environmentalists, trade unionists and other civil society activists are parading through city ahead of rally at Belfast City Hall later.

A separate concert for the IF anti-food poverty campaign, spearheaded by charities working in the developing world, will be held in the city’s Botanic Gardens this afternoon with acts including indie rockers Two Door Cinema Club.

The concert has been sold out, with some 8,000 people due to attend, organisers said.

Flag protest

As participants gathered at City Hall for speeches, a separate demonstration was being staged by Northern Ireland-based loyalists unhappy at last year’s decision by Belfast City Council to limit the number of days the Union flag flies over City Hall.

Similar flag protests have been staged outside City Hall on Saturdays since the controversy flared.

Around 100 loyalists congregated near the gates of the building with around the same number of police officers forming a human barrier to ensure they were kept apart from the anti-G8 rally.

The G8 leaders are arriving at the Lough Erne golf resort in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland for the two-day meeting starting on Monday.

As preparations continued for the event, Downing Street announced that David Cameron has secured agreement from Britain’s network of overseas territories and Crown dependencies to sign up to a new clampdown on tax evasion.

At talks at Downing Street ahead of the summit, the leaders all agreed to a series of actions aimed at promoting transparency and an exchange of information between tax jurisdictions.

The prime minister hailed the agreement as a “very positive step forward” which would strengthen his hand in talks with the other G8 leaders in which he has made improving international tax compliance a key issue.