The clashes left smoke from burning cars and the sting of tear gas drifting through the harborfront area in the north German port of Rostock. Some 146 police were hurt, 18 of them seriously.
Radicals "are smashing everything in their way to pieces," said Karsten Wolff, a police spokesman. There were no immediate numbers for arrests.
The officially permitted march preceded a three-day summit beginning Wednesday in the seaside resort of Heiligendamm, where German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosts the leaders of the other G-8 nations — Britain, France, Japan, Italy, Russia, Canada and the United States.
Most marchers were peaceful, but others pried up paving stones and broke them into chunks before charging police. Officers in helmets and full body armor fell back, then charged the demonstrators.
Five large green police trucks with twin water cannons mounted on top blasted groups of rioters. A police car was destroyed and several parked cars burned, spreading black smoke over the area.
Protesters torched a large blue recycling bin.
Police spokesman Frank Scheulen estimated the number of violence-minded demonstrators at about 2,000. Police put the size of the demonstration at 25,000, while organizers said it was 80,000.
Peter Mueller, who was among the demonstrators, had tears streaming from bloodshot eyes after the tear gas was released. "As long as the police were in the background it was OK, but as soon as one took a step closer, it went out of control," he said.
He shrugged. "What can you do? So ends the peaceful protest."
At one point, a line of police marched through a harborside street to scatter demonstrators, and were pelted with stones from behind. One of the organizers pleaded for calm from a loudspeaker.
"The police are heading back so we can hold our protest in peace, that is what we want," he said.
The march began without violence, and most of the demonstrators remained peaceful, gathering to listen to speeches from a stage in a large square near the waterfront.
But some taunted members of the 13,000-strong police detachment from around Germany, and several hundred wore bandanas across their faces with sweat shirt hoods pulled down low to obscure their identities.
The protesters from around Europe and the world gathered at two locations early in the day for rallies, then marched in two groups along three-mile routes to converge on the harbor for the main demonstration.
Police lined the path through the city, and helicopters flew overhead. Most shops and cafes were shuttered.
The protest was organized by several dozen groups under the motto "another world is possible."
"The world shaped by the dominance of the G-8 is a world of war, hunger, social divisions, environmental destruction and barriers against migrants and refugees," organizers said in leaflets handed out on the streets. "We want to protest against this and show the alternatives."
Kay Stenzel woke at 3 a.m. to drive in from the eastern city of Bautzen with four friends to voice their discontent with the G-8 leaders.
"They want to impose their wills upon the poor nations," he said, waving a red flag emblazoned with a black cat — an animal he chose because it was "unruly."
On their Web site, organizers emphasized that they wanted a peaceful protest.
"There is no reason to be afraid to come to the big demonstration in Rostock," they said. "We do not expect major problems with the police."
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