Angry French farmers destroy Spanish fruit

Masked French farmers destroyed truckloads of Spanish fruit shipments in a row over imported produce.

They claim they are being forced out of business because Spanish growers can undercut their prices. They stopped trucks at Senas in Provence and flung out the cargo.

Trade union Vegetables of France claims Spanish farmers do not have to obey the same strict labour-cost and pesticide rules as the French.

Angelique Delahaye, the union's president, said: "We don't oppose the free market so long as rules are the same for everybody."

But Juan Corbalan, head of the Brussels office of Spanish cooperative AgriFruit, said the problems had been caused by early harvests in France.