Kept away from the VIPs and amid a heavy police presence, protesters have taken to the streets of Switzerland to demonstrate against the World Economic Forum

Kept away from the VIPs and amid a heavy police presence, protesters have taken to the streets of Switzerland to demonstrate against the World Economic Forum. There were rowdy scenes in the eastern town of Chur, around 50 kilometres from the ski resort of Davos, where business leaders and politicians have been holding talks. An authorized demonstration took place which police say was mainly peaceful although a bank window was smashed and some grafitti was daubed. The damage however was nothing compared to previous years. In 2000, anti-free trade activists went on the rampage through Davos and last year protesters ran riot in the Swiss capital Berne. Bus-loads of demonstrators briefly blocked the main highway between Zurich and Chur, but it all came after the departure of the man making headlines at today's session of talks. United States Vice President Dick Cheney used his speech in Davos to urge Europe to join the US in promoting democracy in Iran and the Arab world. This,he maintained, was the key to winning the global war against terrorism.