Policemen try to put out the fire on a burning car near the Ungdomshuset youth centre in the Noerrebro area of Copenhagen March 2, 2007.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    STOCKHOLM, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 300 rioters had been arrested in Copenhagen by early Saturday in clashes between police and young protesters demonstrating over the eviction of squatters from a popular down-town hangout this week.

    Police moved in overnight Friday against some 1,000 mainly teenage demonstrators, some of whom had been hurling petrol bombs and stones. The rioters vandalized a school and set fire to several buildings, reports reaching here quoted police saying.

    A total of 188 people were arrested during the night and further 90 Saturday morning, police said. The figure brought to 500 the total of those taken into police custody since demonstrations began Thursday night.

    Police were bracing themselves for more trouble after two new demonstrations were staged Saturday afternoon, although they had started peacefully with hundreds of people marching toward Copenhagen's main square.

    The demonstrations were sparked by a dawn raid by police Thursday to evict people from a downtown building popular with squatters.

    The eviction had been planned since last year, when courts ordered the squatters to hand the building over to a Christian congregation that bought it six years ago.