Rebel French farmer Jose Bove appealed today against a prison term handed down to him for wrecking a McDonald's restaurant, comparing the attack to the storming of the Bastille in the French Revolution.
Bove, who has become famous for his fight against globalisation, was sentenced to three months in jail for his 1999 assault on the McDonald's outlet in southern France.
"I realise that we acted illegally but was it any more illegal than what the sans culottesdid when they dismantled a prison in 1789," Bove told the court, referring to the celebrated destruction of the Bastille by Paris revolutionaries.
The hearing is scheduled to continue on Friday.
The 47-year-old sheep farmer and nine others dismantled the McDonald's in protest against US tariffs on French delicacies such as Roquefort cheese and foie gras.
The public prosecutor has also appealed against Bove's conviction, arguing that three months in jail was not enough.
Bove, hailed as a Robin Hood figure by his growing army of fans, told reporters that even if he had to go to prison, the fight against the new world trade order would continue.
"Prison does not scare me at all," he said. "In any case, it will not stop our struggle."
Bove has skilfully mobilised radical farmers and tapped into French prejudices against fast food - for which he popularised the term la malbouffe(lousy food).