Strasbourg, France - A hotel which was set on fire Saturday by anti-NATO demonstrators in Strasbourg was gutted by the flames, but had been unoccupied before it was attacked, a German news television channel, N-TV, reported.

Earlier television pictures had shown the entire ground floor of the five-storey building on fire. N-TV said the flames then spread.

N-TV said the 78-room hotel had been vacated in advance of the NATO summit which brought US President Barack Obama and other leaders to the city.

Strasbourg, France  - Groups of anti-NATO protesters skirmished with police in central Strasbourg on Saturday as the leaders of the 28-member alliance prepared to meet for a summit celebrating its 60th anniversary.

Ironically singing "Happy Birthday, NATO" and waving rainbow-coloured banners, the young demonstrators were met by teargas canisters fired by groups of police officers in riot gear.

Some 10,000 police officers and gendarmes were deployed in and around the city, whose downtown districts were otherwise as deserted as a ghost town.

Strasbourg, France  - French police used tear gas Friday to drive back demonstrators who tried to push through a police cordon in Strasbourg in a second day of protests against the NATO summit.

Police said the militants had dressed as clowns, kissed police officers' hands and tickled officer's faces with feather dusters in an effort to make the riot police look foolish.

The protesters are a loose alliance of communists, anarchists, pacifists and radical feminists who consider the alliance evil.

Strasbourg, France - NATO leaders Friday piled pressure on Turkey to drop its resistance to the appointment of Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the alliance's next chief.

Discussions on the post of NATO secretary general are conducted by the alliance's heads of state and government behind closed doors, so information on the process is scarce.

Strasbourg, France  - NATO heads of state and government headed to Strasbourg and Baden Baden on Friday to attend a summit marking the alliance's 60th birthday.

It will be the first NATO summit with new US President Barack Obama, who like a number of other leaders was due to arrive directly from London after attending a G20 meeting in the British capital.

Albanian President Sali Berisha and Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader were also set to make their debuts at the high table after their countries officially became fully fledged NATO members this week.

Strasbourg, France  - Twelve people were arrested after violent anti-NATO protests in the French city of Strasbourg on Thursday, one day before leaders from the
28-member alliance were due to meet there, a police spokesman said.

Demonstrators hurled rocks, broke windows and set trash bins on fire before police fired tear gas canisters and order was restored.

The demonstration turned violent after police prevented some 600 protesters from marching into downtown Strasbourg.