Farmers cancel handout to Paris mob

Paris (AP) - French farmers' plans to give away 50 tons of produce in the middle of Paris to protest at falling food prices were cancelled yesterday after thousands of bargain hunters overran the protest site.

"We were overwhelmed," a protest leader explained over a loudspeaker at the plaza in front of the Montparnasse train station to the crowd, many of them poor people looking for a handout. He said the fruit and vegetables would be given to charity.

Farmers' unions had called the demonstration following a fall in wholesale prices, caused by the growing French reliance on supermarkets.

Eager, basket-toting Parisians began to arrive early in the morning. As the distribution of food began, organisers repeatedly called through the loudspeaker for calm. Just before midday, a protest leader announced that the crowds had become dangerous and that the giveaway would be cancelled.

Most of those still waiting for the free food reacted angrily, and some threatened to block the farmers' trucks to prevent them from driving away.