While the streets of Strasbourg are deserted, cordoned off by police forces, a village just outside the city is packed and buzzing with energy. The anti-NATO camp has set up shop in a nearby village and strictly prohibited journalists from getting a look-in. Our Observer, however, is in the camp, and here are her photos...

Anti-NATO activists have installed themselves not far from the centre of Strasbourg in the suburban town of Neuhoff. The anti-NATO village is home to anarchists and alter-globalists who describe it as "a place of meeting, of life, an expression of our rejection of NATO - the military machine that only protects capitalist interests". It's in this village that members of the Black Blocs - the group that clashed with police on the German border last night - are supposedly staying. But it's hard to know what exactly is going on as the "villagers" are less than willing to let the press in.

Carole Baptistal, 25, works for a recruitment agency in Strasbourg.  

I'm documenting the village as part of a photography project. To get in I came along rue Stephanie, past the fields. Coming from that direction, I came across some young people wearing hoods. They'd put up a small barrage and had a trolley full of stones in case the police turned up.  

I got in easily, but I was careful. I'm wearing jeans and trainers and I've only got a compact camera on me. If you're young and you don't look like a journalist, then you get through. I saw some hooded guys and took a photo from a distance. They looked as though they were preparing for an intifada. 

It's really well organised. The 'civil disobedience programme' is put up every day.

The atmosphere here is quite jovial. A bit like in a music festival. The majority of people don't seem violent."