Louvre Staff Walkout Protesting Agressive Pickpockets

Museum forced to close

France's Louvre museum in Paris was forced to close temporarily on Wednesday after 200 staff members staged a walkout in protest against increasingly aggressive pickpockets who are now targeting both tourists and museum workers, a union source said.

Management sources at the museum said about 200 workers "exercised their right to walk out" on Wednesday. The museum said it had already lodged a complaint with prosecutors in December 2012 and demanded greater police presence.