The global gathering rumoured to decide everything from EU migration policy to the next President of the US: World's elite arrive for Bilderberg – the annual meeting YOU are not allowed to know about   

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This weekend 150 of the world's most powerful people are meeting in the Kempinski Hotel Taschenbergpalais in Dresden, Germany.

A £25million security operation means their secret meetings will be protected by hundreds of police officers and soldiers.

But who are they and what are they doing?

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Police forming a tight security cordon around the hotel in Dresden where the Bilderberg Group are meeting

It is known as the Bilderberg Conference and many people believe those attending are part of a 'new world order' who secretly run the world.

Some even claim it is a cover name for the illuminati, a secret and sinister order founded in 18th century Bavaria. 

Ever since its formation in 1954 - at the Hotel Bilderberg in the Netherlands - the talks have been shrouded in mystery because no minutes are kept of what was discussed. 

A protester carries a banner reading 'Satan wants to win' outside the Bilderberg Group's hotel

Journalist Jon Ronson wrote a book about the Bilderberg Group, called Them, and the late Labour MP Denis Healey, who co-founded the group, told him: 'Bilderberg is the most useful international group I ever attended. The confidentiality enabled people to speak honestly without fear of repercussions.' 

That secrecy is ensured by the so-called Chatham House Rule, which allows those attending the conference to make use of the information they have received but not reveal the identity or affiliation of the person who gave it to them. 

But the secrecy has led to suspicions among some that they are deciding on everything from the outcome of the EU referendum to who will be the next US President. 

Notable guests invited to this year's conference in Germany include the former US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger (pictured)

US radio host Alex Jones, who is at the forefront of the conspiracy theorists, heckled them at one meeting through a loudspeaker: 'We know you are ruthless. We know you are evil. We respect your dark power.'

But the conspiracy theorists cannot agree among themselves what is the over-riding ideology of the Bilderberg Group, with some claiming it is unbridled capitalism and others claiming it is tinted with left-wing or even Nazi policies.

Michael Snyder, writing on his Freedom Outpost blog, claims the group was co-founded by a Nazi sympathiser, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, and adds: 'They are still advancing the values and principles at the heart of the Nazi movement to this very day.'

He wrote: 'Just like the Nazis, they believe they are the elite of the world, they are anti-Israel, and they believe in using military power to advance their cause when necessary.' 

Is it really up to the people? Some conspiracy theorists believe the Bilderberg Group will decide whether Donald Trump (left) or Hillary Clinton (right) becomes the next US President

This theory seems especially potty considering one of the leading lights of the Bilderberg Group is Henry Kissinger, the former US Secretary of State, a prominent Jewish-American and a strong supporter of Israel. 

Kissinger was one of the most Machiavellian politicians of the 20th century and has been blamed for everything from the US bombing of Cambodia to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus but was he really acting under orders from the Bilderberg Group? It seems unlikely. 

Prince Bernhard's original idea for the Bilderberg Group was ‘that severe economic dips like the Great Depressions could be avoided if responsible and influential leaders could manage world events behind their necessary public posturing'.

Protesters demonstrate outside the hotel in Dresden

The idea was for a big talking shop attended by the great and the good where the mistakes of the past could be learned and the problems of the future avoided. 

But the air of suspicion and paranoia has been heightened as police outside the venue were seen this week hassling journalists who were trying to cover the conference.

Canadian journalist Lauren Southern of The Rebel Media told Mail Online she was followed by police and who had checked her passport and inspected the mobile phones, laptops and camera equipment of her crew.

She said: 'This is my first time at Bilderberg and I'm shocked by the security. They told us they had their eyes on us all the time and they stopped us as we walked across a public square and told us it was a protected zone.'  

This year's conference will be attended by former CIA chief David Petraeus, former MI6 chief Sir John Sawers, the chief executive of BP, Robert Dudley, the former President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. 

Lauren Southern (pictured) said she was shocked by the security at the conference and the measures police were going to, to hassle journalists covering it

A placard against the Bilderberg Group meeting is held up outside the conference when it met at Sitges, near Barcelona in 2010

They are certainly VIPs but if they truly control the world where are the Russians, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Indians and the Arabs? 

The list of attendees is dominated by Europeans and North Americans. 

So what will be on the agenda this year? 

Well the Bilderberg Group has a website and says the key topics for discussion this year will be China, Europe (migration, growth, reform, vision, unity), the Middle East, Russia, the US political landscape, cyber security, the geo-politics of energy and technological innovation.

Also on the agenda is a discussion about the 'precariat' - that is people, often in the middle classes, who are living a precarious existence due to short-term contracts and zero hours and cannot afford to save for a pension or their retirement.  

Comedian and writer Charlie Skelton, writing in the International Business Times, claims there will be furious work going on behind the scenes in Dresden in a bid to stop Brexit.

While they insist on maintaining their strict rules on secrecy and refusing access to the media the Bilderberg Group will continue to be dogged by conspiracy theorists blaming them for all the world's ills.

And who knows if it is true or not?