G20 talks enter final day as protestors arrested

World leaders are today entering the final day of talks at the G20 meeting in Hamburg as officials try to bridge the gap with the United States on issues such as trade and climate change.

Leaders at the summit are struggling to find common ground with the US following President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the landmark Paris agreement last month.

One unresolved section of the G20 communique is linked to the US desire to have a reference to fossil fuels - according to reports quoting unnamed EU officials.

A separate issue is Trump's rejection of free trade - although the president has said that he is not opposed to trade in principle, his position is that any trade deals agreed have to protect US industry.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is hosting the summit in Hamburg, said the talks so far had been "very difficult".

"The discussions are very difficult, I don't want to talk around that,” she said, adding that she hoped that the differences with the US would not affect the commitments made by other nations.

Merkel's comments came amid a second night of violent protests on the streets of Hamburg, with demonstrators and heavily armed police clashing into the early hours of Saturday.

Demonstrators - who were protesting against the presence of Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin, climate change and global wealth inequalities - set fire to vehicles and barricades, threw rocks at officers and looted shops.

At one point, police chased protesters across rooftops while officers on the streets fired water cannons at them. Around 200 police officers were injured during the protests, and dozens of protestors have been detained by police.

German military officers were later despatched to help bring order to Hamburg's streets.

Merkel said she could understand peaceful protests, but that demonstrations that "put lives in danger" were "unacceptable".