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CANBERRA - Violent anti-globalisation protests at the weekend's G20 economic meeting in Melbourne will be used to refine the massive security clampdown at the Apec leaders' summit in Sydney next year.
New South Wales Police observers were in Melbourne as streets around the Grand Hyatt Hotel erupted into running battles that caught officials by surprise, injured 10 police officers and sparked a manhunt that has so far led to the arrest of 11 alleged ringleaders.
The Apec summit is an even more sensitive target than the G20 meeting, with leaders including United States President George W. Bush and 20 other heads of state gathering in Sydney.
Jet fighters with shoot-to-kill orders will protect a no-fly zone, and thousands of police, special forces, anti-terror squads and troops will patrol the streets and harbour.
The G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors from the European Union and 19 countries reinforced Australian determination to invoke harsh new anti-terror laws and vast military might in Sydney.
Police allege the worst of the violence was orchestrated by foreign activists using sophisticated hit-and-run guerrilla tactics to battle police guarding delegates at the Grand Hyatt.
Victorian Police Commissioner Christine Nixon said the activists had been under surveillance since their arrival in Australia but could not be touched until they had broken the law.
Police were attacked with bottles and fists and some were bitten.
Protest organisers said most of the activists were peaceful and Nixon said police believed a small group of visitors were largely responsible.
"They are people who are well trained," she said.
Prime Minister John Howard condemned the violence.
"The people who demonstrated in Melbourne were a hard core of violent people who do not represent even the mainstream of people who oppose the policies of this Government," he said.
The protests will be used to fine-tune security measures that have been steadily increasing in scale since the 2000 Olympics and the World Economic Forum in Melbourne the same year - also the target of violent protests.
Military and police measures will be further backed by new anti-terror laws so tough they have been condemned by the Government's Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Amnesty International and civil rights, religious and legal groups.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute says that since the Sydney Olympics Australia has effectively doubled the counter-terrorist capabilities of its special forces.
Police and defence chiefs have also drawn on the experience of the 2002 Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting - the first time Air Force fighters guarded a no-fly zone - and this year's Commonwealth Games.
Apec will be a much bigger operation, involving more than 3500 police, thousands more troops and private security guards, Air Force jets and naval ships, helicopters, special forces and specialist counter-terror squads.
Police will be able to shut down entire areas under new laws and block unauthorised demonstrations.
Protests will be confined to parks and areas away from the venues.
