A French anti-globalization activist has been released from prison after serving 43 days for ransacking a McDonald's restaurant. The activist, Jose Bove, is the leader of a radical farmers' union who became known internationally for his opposition to multinational corporations and U.S. trade policies. Mr. Bove told supporters he will continue his campaigns.
Several-hundred cheering supporters greeted Jose Bove as he left the prison near the southern French city of Montpellier.
He was 10 kilos thinner than when he entered prison 43 days ago, because of a hunger strike to protest his incarceration.
He had been sentenced to three-months in prison for the attack on the McDonald's restaurant, which he said symbolized the bad food served up by multinational corporations.
His actions have been widely applauded in France. And, the government, mindful of his popularity, held off on sending him to jail until after parliamentary elections and then let him out early for good behavior.
Mr. Bove promised to continue to oppose globalization and a rightist government in France that, as he put it, throws trade union leaders into jail.
And he said he takes full responsibility for other attacks, the destruction of several fields of genetically modified grains, which he says were legitimate political protest.
Mr. Bove faces 14 months in jail for those incidents and will be back in court next month.