Thousands of protesters have converged on the French Riviera to urge the Group of 20 leading economies to focus on spreading global largesse more equitably instead of saving banks and pleasing financial markets.

Scores of French and international activist groups with a range of missions - from a tax on financial transactions to better environmental protection and fairer labor laws - are organizing protests around the summit of G-20 leaders in Cannes on Thursday and Friday.

Their biggest march was planned for Tuesday in Nice, under the slogan "People First, Not Finance".

Later they were to march on nearby Monaco, known for its friendly tax laws, to urge an end to tax havens.

While some of their goals overlap with that of the Occupy Wall Street movement that has spread to cities around North America and Europe, the protesters in Nice have not latched onto the Occupy name.

The protesters planned their actions many months ago and are pushing agendas that they have long championed.

"There are different organizations here today, including trade unions and NGOs, many of which are involved in the developing world," Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland reported from Nice.

"They've chosen to hold the rally on November 1 because it's a holiday in France," she said. "Broadly, they believe the issue of debt in Europe has hijacked the agenda."

Preparing for the masses

Security is a major concern for this week's protests. More than 12,000 police and other security officers are deployed to maintain order, with police speedboats stationed in front of luxury yachts in the Riviera harbors and parts of the famed Boulevard de la Croisette in Cannes closed to the public with steel fences.

Police in France, where protests and strikes are a common form of public debate and can occasionally degenerate into violence, are well-versed in crowd control and not shy about using tear gas to disperse rowdy demonstrators.

Organisers are expecting between 5,000 and 15,000 people for the protests.

Among their leading causes is a push for a small tax on all international financial transactions that would be used for development aid to poorer nations.

But the leaders at the summit are primarily focused on keeping Greece from defaulting and helping Europe overcome its debt crises, which have threatened the global recovery and rocked financial markets.

President Barack Obama is coming to the summit but is expected to take a back seat to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel because of Europe's problems.

PHOTO CAPTION

Activists hold a banner prior to the anti capitalist march in the French Riviera city of Nice two days ahead of the G20 summit to be held in Cannes on November 3 and 4

Al Jazeera