Several thousand anti-G8 protesters rally in Japan

By Yoko Kubota and Edwina Gibbs

SAPPORO, Japan (Reuters) - Several thousand people rallied on Saturday on the streets of central Sapporo, Japan, to protest against a Group of Eight summit due to start next week at a luxury hotel a two-hour drive away.

Four Japanese men were arrested, said a police official on the northern island of Hokkaido, of which Sapporo is the capital. Two were arrested for violating the public safety ordinances and two others for interfering with police activities.

A Reuters cameraman was taken away by police but it was not immediately clear if he was among the four arrested.

The one-and-a-half hour march by Japanese and foreign activists, citizen groups and non-governmental organisations took place under heavy security ahead of the July 7-9 summit of the rich nations at the hot spring and lake resort of Toyako 70 km (45 miles) away.

The protesters banged drums and carried colourful banners proclaiming "Shut Down the G8" and yelled: "We are against a summit of rich nations". Some marched dressed in traditional Japanese summer kimonos and costumes of the local ethnic minority, the Ainu.

A police source estimated the crowd at 2,000 to 3,000.

"They have been pushing upon us their policies. I wish they would hear and represent the voices of the people who actually live here and not be so selfish," said Mizuho Tsuboi, a 64-year-old farmer from Hokkaido.

Summits of the G8, which bring together the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States each year, have become a magnet for protesters angry about everything from what world leaders are doing about climate change to the effects of globalisation.