The workers, who have been on strike since March 10 at their restaurant in the north of the capital, occupied a busy McDonald's in the central Rue de Rivoli shopping area, nearer to the city centre, for several hours, a member of their strike committee said.

They festooned the restaurant with a banner saying: "No to the American war, no to the war McDonald's is waging against its workers."

The workers, who are on strike at an outlet in the Strasbourg-Saint-Denis area of Paris, stayed in the restaurant for just under three hours before leaving to plan further protests, the strike committee member said.

McDonald's in France is a franchise operation, which means that its restaurants are in fact owned and managed by local companies.

SPACE.WIRE