Observation of diffraction and measurement of the forward energy flow with the CMS detector

The observation of inclusive diffraction with the CMS detector at the LHC is presented for centre-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s}$ = 0.9 TeV and 2.36 TeV. Diffractive events are selected by the presence of a Large Rapidity Gap in the forward region of the CMS detector and uncorrected data are compared with Monte Carlo simulations based on the event generators PYTHIA and PHOJET. The measurement of the forward energy flow, in the pseudorapidity region $3.15 < \lvert\eta\rvert < 4.9$, is also presented at $\sqrt{s}$ = 0.9 TeV, 2.36 TeV and 7~TeV. Uncorrected data are compared with Monte Carlo simulations based on PYTHIA.