By Chris Ferguson and Alan Richardson

THE G8 ring of steel around Gleneagles Hotel was breached yesterday minutes after US President George W. Bush touched down at the summit venue.

Hundreds of protesters punched a hole in the security fence surrounding the Perthshire hotel at the end of a demonstration through Auchterarder.

The breach brought a swift and overwhelming response from police who secured the gap and swept back the protesters with dogs, horses and riot officers in an hour-long Battle of Gleneagles.

It also brought the perhaps unprecedented sight of military helicopters being used to deal with a civilian disturbance.

Police flew in 200 extra riot officers from around Scotland in army Chinook helicopters – in addition to the 4000 already operating in and around Auchterarder.

Commanders later said part of the fence was pulled down but no one made it into the inner cordon.

Hundreds of protesters ignored the agreed route of the protest march and continued through a housing development and across a field to put pressure on the G8 outer cordon.

The flashpoint happened within minutes of the arrival of President Bush and his wife Laura. They touched down in Marine One at 3.48 pm and went for a stroll through the hotel grounds before being welcomed to the summit.

Less than a mile away, the first of 1500 protesters had broken from the protest march through Auchterarder and had made their way towards the security fence.

Within minutes hundred piled through putting pressure on the fence, which eventually gave.

That signalled the start of the violent battle between police and radical masked protesters.

Riot police stood back for some time as around 30 troublemakers wrecked the much-maligned steel cordon on Orchil Road and, with the fence finally removed, the small group was charged from both sides by officers.

The riot police in body armour holding batons and shields moved up to plug gaps as the protest took a further sinister turn, with fencing pulled out and thrown on the street.

As the menace grew at the cordon, the protest continued to filter along its agreed route, sometimes in single file but all in good humour.

Other protesters put themselves between the police and troublemakers, pleading with them to be left alone.

But the appearance of a Chinook helicopter flying low in the sky over the cordon at 4.40 pm was the signal for police action.

As missiles including wooden batons and lumps of broken metal fencing rained down, the group picked up sections of torn down fencing and charged the police.

The officers stood their ground for several minutes, refusing to charge but it was clear they were merely waiting for colleagues.

At the agreed signal, the protesters were charged from two sides and beaten back. Those that could be caught were hustled away. Moments later, a further charge hit the head of the main body of the march on Orchil Road, dispersing a small knot of anarchists.

As peaceful protesters fled, the police backed away and returned to their posts across the width of the road.

It was an incident which marred an otherwise successful afternoon for G8 Alternatives, who fought throughout the morning to secure the right to hold the two-mile march, which organisers claimed attracted as many as 15,000 people.

For an hour they filtered along the route, from Auchterarder Park to the security cordon at the top of Orchil Road, amid singing, dancing and slogan-shouting.

However, a build-up of masked and hooded protesters – whom G8 Alternatives representatives claim are nothing to do with their group – had loitered in the area, building up their numbers for an hour before attacking the fence. However, within just over an hour they had been dispersed.

Scottish police control in Glenrothes said they were not overly concerned about the breach. It was a scenario they had trained for and planned for, spokesman Stewart Wilson said.

« We planned for this and thought it would happen and our reaction was planned, » he said.

He added that the tactic of surrounding protesters and dispersing them gradually has worked well for Scottish forces in the past, most recently in Edinburgh on Monday.

Tayside Police confirmed a number of people were arrested for public order-related offences.

No police officers were injured at Gleneagles but the day of action by protesters elsewhere across Scotland saw 28 officers injured.

Trouble had flared in Stirling and the A9 was closed for three hours.

Mr Wilson said, « We promised we would not close the A9 and we did not. Protesters did that and officers dealt with it. »

Roads out of Stirling closed around 7 am after violence broke out between protesters and police close to the eco-camp near Forthbank stadium.

As protesters made their way across sections of the A9 between Stirling and Perth, police in Perth responded by closing the south-bound carriageway of the road at the Broxden roundabout.