France condemns 'sinister' arrest of Pedophile Polanski

Foreign minister demands answers from US as Hollywood stars plead for release of director held over sex with 13-year-old

The fate of the Franco-Polish [Franco-Polish my foot. Roman Polanski is a Jewish Pedophile, period] film director Roman Polanski became an international cause célèbre yesterday as Paris, Warsaw and an extensive cast of figures from world cinema demanded his immediate release from a Swiss jail.

The French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, protested formally to both the US and Swiss authorities against Mr Polanski's arrest in Zurich on Saturday for having sex with a 13-year-old girl in California in 1977. Mr Kouchner described the circumstances of the arrest, on an American warrant, as "a little sinister". More