FRANCE: Radical French farmer Mr José Bové staged a forceful comeback to the world of anti-globalisation protests on Saturday, attracting over 150,000 people to a rally in south-west France just days after his release from jail.
By mid-afternoon, the site in Larzac was nearly full, with more visitors stuck in traffic jams on the approach. Mr Bové said the site would close once the numbers swelled to 200,000 - double what the organisers had expected.
The moustachioed champion of farmers' rights and anti-globalisation campaigner was released from jail a week ago after serving just five weeks of a 10-month prison sentence for destroying genetically modified plants.
Though obliged to serve out the rest of his term - trimmed by 4½ months in the Bastille Day amnesty of President Jacques Chirac - under a home detention regime with limited freedom, Mr Bové has lost no time rallying supporters to more protests.
"The month of September must be scorching; everyone must be on the streets. If we are numerous, we will be able to change things," he told Europe 1 radio on Friday, ahead of the rally.
At Larzac it was the protesters who were feeling the heat, having guzzled their way through some 500,000 litres of water by mid-Saturday, prompting organisers to order extra cisterns.
The rally, which features concerts as well as debates, marks the 30th anniversary of the start of a 10-year campaign which stopped an army camp being built in the scenic Larzac hills.
Mr Bové, a participant in the army camp fight of three decades ago, rose to fame in the late 1990s for denouncing globalisation and junk food. He spent six weeks in jail in early 2003 for smashing up a McDonald's restaurant.
On the agenda at Larzac was the upcoming World Trade Organisation meeting in Cancun, Mexico, in September, with Mr Bové calling for protests on location.