Have you ever seen those Travelocity commercials with the Roaming Gnome? They are always on during the Amazing Race. I like the little gnome. He’s cute and funny. So I wanted him as my display picture on the instant messenger. I Googled him, and found some interesting websites. So, the following is old news, but still.

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Garden Gnome Liberation Front strikes Paris show

April 13, 2000Web posted at: 8:25 a.m. EDT (1225 GMT)

PARIS — The dormant Garden Gnome Liberation Front has sprung back to life, stealing about 20 gnomes during a nighttime raid on a Paris exhibition.

“We demand … that garden gnomes are no longer ridiculed and that they be released into their natural habitat,” the Front’s Paris wing said in a statement following its weekend strike.

France’s first garden gnome exhibition in the exclusive Bagatelle park on the outskirts of the capital opened last month and has been a hit with the public as chic Parisians develop a taste for kitsch culture.

The Garden Gnome Liberation Front vanished from the public eye in 1997 after a northern French court handed its ringleader a suspended prison sentence and fined him for his part in the disappearance of around 150 gnomes.

The only suspected sighting of the organization since then was a mass suicide of gnomes at Briey in eastern France in September 1998, when 11 of them were found dangling by their necks under a bridge.

A letter found nearby said: “When you read these few words we will no longer be part of your selfish world, where we serve merely as pretty decoration.”

Now, the sight of 2,000 of the gaudy, colorful creatures dotted around the Bagatelle gardens has clearly proved too big a temptation for the group to avoid.

It warned that it would strike again unless the show was closed and all the gnomes released. Organizers told the daily Le Parisien that they had no intention of bowing to the Front’s demands.

Copyright 2000 Reuters

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It doesn’t stop there. FLNJFrance sounds like a pretty active club (according to what I can make out with my fluent French Freedom). And they’re not just in France:

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Garden thefts cause misery

A HEMSWORTH pensioner who says her only remaining pleasure is her garden has hit out at the “twisted thieves” stealing her precious outdoor ornaments.

The 78-year-old, who lives in the Common End area of the town, has refused to be identified for fear of repercussions.

She has lived in her home for 11 years and, for a long time, has had her garden ornaments regularly stolen.

The last time was on Saturday night. At around 9.30pm, she looked out to admire her handiwork as she had spent the day washing and repainting various garden items.

The following morning, feeders from a wrought iron bird table and a garden gnome had been stolen. She said: “Last year, I bought two chrome planters and they looked lovely, but they didn’t last long. Nothing does.

“What kind of freak begrudges a 78-year-old the pleasure of having a bit of garden to tend to?

“As soon as I attempt to smarten things up a bit, it is noticed and the sticky fingers get to work.”

Neighbourhood police team sergeant Victor Thimm said: “These thefts are cruel and distressing, and we ask anyone with information to contact us on either 01977601097 or 651097.

“We will increase patrols in this area in an effort to prevent this kind of thing happening.”

15 April 2005

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And I might just join FLNJFrance. Those Gnomes must be alive, and must have powers because of this:

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Numbing gnome

Jean Collop, a 69-year-old grandmother, awakened at 5 a.m. to find a burglar on her roof. She ran outside, grabbed a garden gnome and hurled it at the man. The gnome bounced off the man’s head, knocking him unconscious on the roof. Collop then grabbed a rolling pin and her camera and took pictures of the thief as her neighbors called the authorities. When officers arrived the man was still passed out on the roof and six local citizens standing guard on the ground below. The woman said she grabbed her rolling pin because she did not want to break another gnome if the man moved.

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Seriously, how could that old grandma throw a gnome up on the roof and knock the guy unconscious without the help of the gnome itself?