990838 French Farmers Attack New McDonalds RestaurantAugust 15, 1999Paris - Farmers ransacked the building site of a new McDonalds fast food restaurant in southern France to protest against U.S. duties recently imposed on luxury European goods. Police said no one was injured in the attack at Millau in the Aveyron region but damage to the nearly-completed building was severe. The United States and Canada introduced curbs on French food imports last month after the European Union refused to lift a ban on North American hormone- treated beef, sparking a wave of protests in France. Among the produce on the U.S. hit list is the pungent Roquefort cheese, which is made in Aveyron. Thursday's attack was condemned by Millau's mayor, former conservative minister Jacques Godfrain. "I am furious. This sort of use of violence and destruction is not a civilised way of doing things," he told Reuters. But, he added: "Just because I am against this protest does not mean that I am in favour of the American position." It was not a good day for McDonalds in Europe. Earlier on Thursday, a McDonalds restaurant in Belgium's second city, Antwerp, was destroyed in a fire thought to have been started by the British- based Animal Liberation Front (ALF). The ALF has in recent years targeted 14 other fast food restaurants in Belgium in protest against the destruction of forests to make way for beef farms.
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