STRASBOURG: Protestors demonstrating against a NATO summit in Strasbourg set fire to a hotel in the city near the river Rhine on Saturday, AFP journalists witnessed.

Hardline militants from the so-called Black Blocks left the ground floor of the hotel, one of the Ibis chain, in flames before firemen intervened to tackle the blaze.

Some 100 masked demonstrators armed with metal bars also wrecked a chapel, a pharmacy, an empty police post and other buildings at the French end of the Europe bridge connecting Strasbourg with Germany.

On the roof of the chapel they wrote a quotation from French writer Victor Hugo, "Religion is nothing but the shadow cast by the universe upon human intelligence."

The militants were in the vanguard of thousands who clashed with French riot police using water cannon and tear gas as they tried to stage a massive rally against the summit.

Many of the demonstrators were masked and wore black, brandishing red and black flags, peace banners, beating drums and carrying pictures of Latin American revolutionary leader Che Guevara. Some had gas masks.

The road was littered with signs of previous clashes: a smouldering barricade, broken glass and spent tear gas grenades which still gave off an acrid smell.

As they marched, several protesters chanted "NATO means war! 60 years is enough!" They waved banners reading "Make NATO History!", and, in a swipe at US President Barack Obama's campaign slogan, "Quit Iraq and Afghanistan. Yes We Can."

- AFP/yt