SCORES of protesters in Scotland for the G8 summit clashed with police and attacked shops and other businesses as world leaders met at Gleneagles.

The violence in Stirling saw running battles being fought with police as groups of demonstrators smashed cars with iron bars and hurled bricks through the windows of a Burger King.

A furious row also broke out when police cancelled an official march because of earlier trouble.

Organisers of the G8 Alternatives demonstration accused the police of "disgraceful behaviour" in preventing thousands of people the right to stage a peaceful protest.

Tayside Police said it decided to ban the march on the grounds of public safety after running battles between police and anarchists erupted on the streets of Stirling this morning.

A force spokeswoman said: "The G8 Alternatives march in Auchterarder has been cancelled following discussions between police and organisers."

But the organisers said they never agreed to call off the two-mile march, which was due to take demonstrators to within a few hundred yards of the steel fence which has been erected at Gleneagles, where leaders of the world's richest nations were meeting.