Several dozen people took part in a rally in central Moscow's Pushkinsky Square organised by the Russian branch of the ATTAC anti-globalisation movement and the leftist Socialist Resistance group.

Police barriers erected outside the entrance to the fast food outlet kept the protestors away, but they symbolically threw several paper planes that landed near the door.

Brandishing red and green flags, the activists held banners with slogans: "No War for Oil," and "Bush, Blair, Aznar, you shame your countries," in reference to the US, British and Spanish leaders.

One of the protestors, a Moscow university student, said: "We are against interference in other countries, and against McDonalds because it is a symbol of globalisation."

SPACE.WIRE