France helps its fishermen

The French government announced a FF300m ( pounds 34m) emergency package yesterday to aid the fishing industry after a five-day national strike by fishermen protesting at the collapse of prices turned violent, Reuter reports from Paris. The government moved to prevent the protest from escalating out of control before a visit to Britanny by the Prime Minister, Edouard Balladur, tomorrow.

About 100 French fishermen and their wives seized and dumped crates of Scottish fish, part of a 20-tonne shipment that arrived at the Breton port of Roscoff from Plymouth.