Millau - French anti-globalisation campaigner Jose Bove was given a three-month prison sentence yesterday for ransacking a McDonald's restaurant in a protest against US trade sanctions. The sentence was tougher than the one asked for by the prosecutor in July's trial. He had recommended a one-month jail term, with nine months suspended.
Along with nine others, Mr Bove was accused of criminal damage for the attack on the half-built fast food outlet in this southern French town in August 1999. He said at the time of the trial, in which he was feted by tens of thousands of leftwing protesters, that he would appeal against a guilty verdict.
Eight of the co-defendants, all members of Mr Bove's Peasant Confederation, were given suspended prison terms and small fines yesterday. One was found not guilty. During the trial Mr Bove said the attack was intended to draw attention to the iniquities of the world trading system.