Hamburg - As international Group of 20 leaders assemble at a landmark philharmonic for dinner and to listen to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, a massive police presence is keeping protesters outside the Hamburg concert hall at bay.
Six helicopters are hovering in the sky, three large police patrol boats and several smaller ones are guarding the waters around the philharmonic located on a peninsula in the harbor.
Around 200 police officers stood shoulder-to-shoulder on the bridge leading to the concert house, where American conductor Kent Nagano was to lead an orchestra in Beethoven's Nine, the European Union's anthem.
The leaders and their spouses were getting together for a festive dinner afterward.
Police and anti-globalization activists have been clashing in Hamburg for a second day in violent skirmishes across the city.