A wave of gnome abductions strikes France -- and hardly anyone shows up to a formal "garden gnome return day" at the police station. Do you think I make this stuff up?
Police Watch Abducted Gnomes Gather Dust Tue October 28, 2003 10:16 AM ETPARIS (Reuters) - A French police station has been stuck with a room of homeless garden gnomes, victims of a wave of gnome abductions, after a fresh bid to trace their owners failed.
Only a trickle of people showed up for Monday's "gnome return day" at the police station in Saint-Die-des-Vosges, near the eastern city of Strasbourg, and only one person was reunited with their stolen gnome, police said.Some 75 kidnapped gnomes were recovered in 2001 after a group called the Garden Gnome Liberation Front released them, leaving them on the steps of the Saint-Die-des-Vosges cathedral. Police are yet to reunite 43 of the gnomes with their owners.
"In wanting to set them free, the Liberation Front has virtually imprisoned them," policeman Sylvain Brucker told Reuters, adding that the local prosecutor could decide to sell the kitsch garden ornaments in a police auction.
"Perhaps there are people with gardens who would like to adopt them," he said.
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
oh, this happened many years back in germany, too. Very funny.
Posted by: Hans | October 28, 2003 at 11:13 AM