Anti-capitalist protesters wonder where to go next

The anti-globalisation movement, a regular if uninvited guest at world economic conferences, is wondering which way to go after its disappointing show at the Group of Eight summit in Evian.

Breaking camp after a weekend of violent protests in France and neighbouring Switzerland, activists were unsure about the effect their efforts were having on the tight circle of world leaders they denounce as heartless Masters of the Universe.

A defiant "We're still winning!" motto scrawled on the side of a portable toilet at the movement's campsite outside this Swiss city seemed like a post-protest pep talk, after police foiled their bid to disrupt the annual G8 talks.

It all seemed a far cry from Genoa 2001, where 300,000 protesters besieged the tight security cordons around the summit. Then, an Italian protester shot dead by police became the movement's first martyr.

"It's problematic, disappointing, because we've done other counter-summits, in Genoa for example, where there were a lot more people," said Christal, a protester who said she was a teacher from the French city of Grenoble.

"We thought (people) would turn out in huge numbers to protest this globalisation, but in fact you get the impression there are divisions everywhere," she said.

"There were maybe fewer people than in Genoa... partly because the strikes against pension reforms in France limited the presence of the trade unions," said Helene Ballande of Friends of the Earth, who was in Annemasse, south of Geneva at another protest camp.

The next big date on the protest calendar is June 21, when organisers say several hundred thousand demonstrators should descend on a European Union summit in northern Greece.

Greece, the outgoing EU president, has shifted the summit on security grounds from the city of Thessaloniki to the nearby Halkidiki peninsula, which can be sealed off easily.