Bove on trial for wrecking genetic rice

Bove salutes the crowd at the recent World Social Forum in Brazil

MONTPELLIER, France -- Radical farm leader Jose Bove stood trial on Thursday on charges of raiding a research centre and destroying genetically-modified rice plants.

Bove, a 47-year-old sheep farmer, could face up to five years and a fine if convicted of breaking into the Cirad research institute in the southern city of Montpellier in June 1999 and damaging public property.

On Thursday, several hundred militants marched to the court with Bove.

"Today we do not need to burn our hand in a flame to know that there is a danger, the experiments confirming the danger are more than sufficient," Bove told journalists before the trial began.

Police surrounded the court building where Bove took the dock alongside two other defendants, while sympathisers set up an impromptu market selling rural produce in a nearby square to demonstrate against industrial farming.

Last month, Bove joined Brazilian farmers in uprooting rows of genetically-modified soybean at an experimental farm owned by U.S.-based Monsanto.

This coincided with a giant anti-capitalism forum in Porto Allegre in Brazil.

A spokesman for Cirad told France Info radio, "the rise of a public debate is an excellent thing for everyone -- what worries us a great deal is that a systematic attack on all public research is not a debate, it's an attempt at intimidation."

Cirad said it was essential to have a public research organisation to provide an unbiased scientific view on genetically-modified foods and to provide an alternative to commercial research undertaken by companies.

Opponents of GM crops fear they risk spreading modified genes, creating a pesticide-resistant superweed or even risking harm to insects and humans.

Supporters of the technology claim it is needed to develop hardier crop types to help feed the world's poor and grow tastier and more nutritious plants.

Bove, who expressed his message outside of France in fluent English has shown a sure sense of publicity in planning his appearances.

An estimated 30,000 protesters swamped the southern French town of Millau last June to support Bove when he went on trial for ransacking the McDonald's restaurant there.

He shot to fame in 1999 when he led an attack on a McDonald's hamburger restaurant in southern France to protest against U.S. tariffs on French cheese and foie gras in particular. Bove was sentenced to three months jail but has appealed the ruling.

Bove, head of the Confederation Paysanne farmers' union, also played a prominent role in protests at the 1999 World Trade Organisation trade liberalisation talks in the U.S. city of Seattle that were abandoned in the face of violence.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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