Activist Bove jailed for McAttack

Bove has come to symbolise anti-globalisation in France

PARIS, France -- French anti-globalisation activist Jose Bove has been told he must begin a jail sentence this week for ransacking a McDonald's fast-food restaurant.

Because of fear that Bove's fate could become an electoral issue, justice officials had said they would not enforce a three-month sentence until Sunday's second round of legislative elections ended two months of voting for president and parliament.

"He received a summons on Monday morning to go to jail on Wednesday," said Francois Dufour, a spokesman for the Confederation Paysanne union which Bove represents.

The walrus-mustachioed folk hero, who attends civil rights protests worldwide, finally exhausted the appeals process last year after being sentenced to three months in 1999 for attacking a half-built McDonald's in the southern French town of Millau in protest at U.S. trade policy.

Bove had already spent 19 days in jail while under investigation and could end up serving just 40 more days if he behaves himself in prison, the union's Dufour told Reuters. He will spend his time behind bars near the Mediterranean city of Montpellier.

Confederation Paysanne members were meeting with representatives of France's highest-profile anti-globalisation group, Attac, to discuss how to mobilise public opinion in support of Bove.

"By targeting from the outset a symbolic figure of the social movement, before the new parliament even meets, the government is signalling its intention of violating union freedoms and blocking debate," Confederation Paysanne said.

Bove tried to justify the McDonald's attack by saying the action had been "legal and necessary" in response to punitive U.S. taxes on Roquefort cheese and other European farm goods.