In all up to 55 people managed to enter the compound and three were slightly injured while scaling the fence, but there was no violence, organizers said.

Police at one point used water cannon to disperse demonstrators trying to enter via the main entrance to the Supreme Headquarters Allied Forces Europe (SHAPE) compound near Mons in southern Belgium.

Those arrested were released later in the day, after being held to prevent them re-offending.

The organizers of the protest, dubbed "Get in Shape," were trying to carry out "civilian inspections" inside the sprawling military base.

"There was a game of cat and mouse between police and demonstrators," said police spokeswoman Anne-Sophie Charle. "There is no particular act of violence, and no damage to public property," she added.

Security was particularly tight since the demo came a year after a similar protest at the Kleine Brogel military base in northern Belgium, which was entered by 500 people while 1,117 were arrested.

Nearly 2,200 police and troops backed by helicopters were on hand to keep control of the demonstration, whose organizers wanted to express their opposition to nuclear weapons.

By the end of the day some 500 people had been arrested, said police spokeswoman Els Clemput. She put the number of people who got through the fence at 32. "But most of them just fell into the arms of the police," she said.

"The aim of this action (was) to carry out civilian inspections on the SHAPE compound to look for proof of preparations for the use of nuclear weapons," said Fabien Rondal, spokesman for Bomspotting, the group organizing the demo.

Rondal said those most of those entered the base -- using a variety of equipment including mattresses and rope ladders -- were arrested almost immediately inside.

Early Saturday morning a group of 12 -- including Belgian, British, Finnish, Swedish and US nationals -- did manage to spend over 20 minutes inside the compound before being arrested close to the main SHAPE building, he said.

Among the others arrested were a number of Belgian politicians, including the president of the Flemish-speaking Spirit party and three deputies from the national parliament.

Both police and protestors claimed success from the day's events. The police spokesman added that turnout was lower than they anticipated -- about 1,000 instead of 1,500-2,000.

According to the organizers, the protestors had intended to be arrested to highlight their cause. They had also hoped to be charged in order to take their case to a Belgian court.

SHAPE's own security forces were not involved in dealing with the protestors, although they were on hand if anyone had penetrated further into the actual buildings themselves.

"We (were) prepared," said SHAPE spokesman Lt. Col. Hartmut Beilmann, adding that such demonstrations "are a right in a democracy."

All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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