NEWPORT, United Kingdom (AFP) - Around a thousand pacifist and anti-nuclear demonstrators marched through Newport on Saturday ahead of the Nato summit in the British city next week.

Various left-wing organisations took part in the protest, including the Stop The War Coalition group and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

Among the reasons protesters said they were demonstrating were Nato expansion, the Gaza conflict, nuclear weapons, "imperialist wars", Ukraine, arms sales to Israel and capitalism.

Protesters carried placards and dozens of Palestinian flags.

Around 150 heads of state and ministers from around 60 countries are expected to attend the summit on Thursday and Friday at the Celtic Manor golf resort outside Newport in south-east Wales.

Some demonstrators have set up tents at a "peace camp" in a park on the edge of the city, while a "counter-summit" gathering is planned for Sunday.

"Nato's continued expansion has brought about the current problems with Russia," said CND veteran Bruce Kent.

"We need to think about peaceful ways of resolving problems, not ramping matters up further with the sabre-rattling that Nato has been doing."