Louvre Strike

The Louvre in Paris was forced to close today, because its staff went on strike in protest against increasingly aggressive pickpockets who threaten staff as well as visitors. Almost 10 million people visited the Louvre in 2012. That's a lot of pockets to pick. Management has requested help from the police to deal with the gangs, some of which include children, but so far the French fuzz have proved useless. If they warn a suspect, he's back in the Louvre as soon as they turn their backs. Joseph Castiglione's View of the Grand Salon Carré in the Louvre (1861) depicts more civilized days, when the rights of law-abiding citizens were more important than the rights of criminals. It is not known when the Louvre will reopen (CLICK).