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  British Police foils pro-European Union croissant plot

British Police foils pro-European Union croissant plot

AFP
Published : Jun 23, 2016, 3:18 am IST
Updated : Jun 23, 2016, 3:18 am IST

British police swooped to stop a Paris-baked plot to tempt Britons to stay in the European Union by handing out free, freshly baked croissants.

A campaigner from “Operation Croissant” hands out postcards in London. (Photo: AFP)
 A campaigner from “Operation Croissant” hands out postcards in London. (Photo: AFP)

British police swooped to stop a Paris-baked plot to tempt Britons to stay in the European Union by handing out free, freshly baked croissants.

The police intervened on the eve of today’s caper, telling volunteers from the French capital it would be illegal to offer food in the run-up to an election because it could corrupt the result.

The group of about 15 volunteers had brought hundreds of croissants to London on the Eurostar train from Paris, said organiser Rosa Rankin-Gee.After being informed of the law, however, they instead decided to hand the French breakfast staple to a homeless shelter, with no political message attached, she said.

Deprived of their pastries, the activists handed out love letters — postcards with often handwritten messages they had collected from French nationals pleading with their cross-Channel friends to stay in the EU. “Because what would you do without French kiss ” read one of the cards, offered to passers-by in the morning rush hour outside the busy King’s Cross railway station in central London. Some people walked on without taking the postcards but others were intrigued by the interest their French neighbours have taken in the referendum.

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