"Most times, people try to keep protesters from coming," the mayor said, "and they certainly don't go out of their way to accommodate them."

Critics see a calculated strategy, intended to keep disruptive protesters off the streets.

The police said it had proved wholly successful in keeping anti-abortion protesters at bay.

Witnesses said that in some instances the police kept protesters trapped and unable to flee while the men from the buses beat them.

Around 50 tanks have been deployed on the streets to keep protesters in check.

The court upheld a buffer zone of about 36 feet around the clinic that kept protesters away from the entrance and parking lot.

He denied that the long holding time was a deliberate tactic to keep protesters behind bars until the convention ends.

Soldiers have been shooting live rounds to keep protesters at a distance as one government minister said the operation to "seal the area" would continue.

Almost no effort was made by the 300 officers on duty to keep protesters from breaking police barricades to rush the steps of City Hall.

Only around the palace did the police say that they were under strict orders to keep protesters at bay.