40 arrests after Opera Ball clashes

Austrian police say forty-two people have been arrested as a result of last night's rioting outside the high society Opera Ball in Vienna.

Among those detained are German and American nationals.

The clashes began as anti-government protesters tried to break through heavily-manned police barricades to disrupt the ball; seventeen officers are said to have been injured.

The demonstrators were protesting against the inclusion of the far-right Freedom Party of Joerg Haider in Austria's coalition government. The move, last February, led to eight months of European Union isolation for Austria and a drop in the number of foreign dignitaries attending the Vienna ball.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service