Man drives into French presidential palace grill in protest

An Italian man drove his car into the iron grills of a back entrance of the French presidential palace Thursday to protest against subsidy cuts for a Paris theater he manages, police said. The action was seen as largely symbolic since the man, who was not named, "only succeeded in lightly hitting the grills at slow speed," a police source said. "He was immediately arrested and placed in custody," the source added. Other police sources said the man, who runs a 100-seat theater in the city's Montparnasse district, had staged another protest outside the presidential palace a few days ago, igniting the model of a harlequin. He had also scattered leaflets on the road slamming a cut in subsidies for his theater, La Comedie Italienne which stages classical and contemporary Italian works. The man was released after questioning by police in the earlier incident.