Volkswacht Bodensee - Hundreds of people protest ahead of Swiss Davos meeting

Demonstrators carried placards with slogans such as "Tax the rich", "Shut up! Pay taxes" and "Smash colonial capitalism".

Among those attending the protest was Austrian-German heiress Marlene Engelhorn, who gave away the bulk of her multi-million-euro inheritance to dozens of organisations working on social issues.

"The WEF symbolises how much power wealthy people like me hold," she told AFPTV.

"Because just because we are born millionaires, or because we got lucky once -- and call that self-made -- we now get to influence politicians worldwide with our political preferences," she added.

"It's a huge lobbyism effort. It's a huge lack of transparency that we witness here, no accountability... I just think we need accountability, we need transparency, we need democracy to be in place here."

Engelhorn also denounced the pollution being caused by private jets flying in for the summit.

Also at Sunday's protest was Britain's Phil White, part of a group called Patriotic Millionaires.

Many observers have expressed concern about the so-called "broligarchy" surrounding US President-elect Donald Trump, which includes billionaire Elon Musk.

At a separate, earlier protest, police moved in after demonstrators blocked the road to the resort, ignoring two calls for them to leave, a spokeswoman for the Graubunden cantonal police told the Keystone-ATS news agency.

With the blockade causing a major traffic jam, the authorities deployed a specialised vehicle to clear the highway ahead of the WEF's Monday start.

Founded in 1971, the WEF offers a yearly opportunity for hundreds of business executives, politicians and other leading figures to mingle in the ski resort-turned-conference centre over the course of a week.

More than 60 heads of state and government will be among those attending this year, according to the WEF.

Top of their minds will be Trump's imminent return to the White House.

Trump is due to address the forum by videolink on January 23, according to the organisers, just three days after his inauguration Monday for a second term in office.

S.Leonhard--VB