Help the gnomeless - Seriously …

New Internationalist, Dec, 2003

A police station in the French city of Strasbourg was disappointed when only one person showed up to claim their missing gnome during an official 'gnome return day'.

In 2001, the underground Garden Gnome Liberation Front stole 75 gnomes from local gardens and released them, in a moving act of solidarity, on to the steps of the Saint-Die-des-Vosges cathedral.

Yet the clandestine group's noble motives may have backfired. The police, noting the numerous gnomes collecting dust in the station, report that: 'In wanting to set them free, the Liberation Front has virtually imprisoned them'.

Amnesty International is not thought to be investigating the case.