France is second only to the U.S. in per-capita consumption of Big Macs and all the rest, but not everyone is happy about it.
In Saint-Romain-en-Viennois, a tiny hamlet outside the small town of Vaison-la-Romaine in Provence, residents have gotten 9,000 signatures on a petition demanding that McDonald's cancel a plan to open a store there. Considering that 9,000 is quite a few more people than the entire population of both towns, that's pretty impressive, although the mayor points out there's no legal basis to block the opening.
At the other end of the spectrum, in northern France, residents of Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise demonstrated last year demanding that McDonald's open a branch there.
Even Paris, where McDonald has dozens of locations, including the world's largest (on the Champs-Elysees), is not immune to controversy: a long-running campaign has so far kept Mickey D off the Rue Montorgueil, where it wanted to open another large restaurant.
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