When the 47-year-old sheep farmer (and one-time student activist) appeared in court at the end of last month in the sleepy town of Millau, in France's south-western region of Aveyron, he attracted some 40, 000 fans roughly the same number who this week jammed Paris's Place de la Concorde to greet the French soccer team, back from winning the European championship in the Netherlands.

ECONOMIST: The French farmers’ anti-global hero | The