Father Christmas has been taken into police custody after pulling a gun on a Christmas-tree seller beside his grotto in Bordeaux.
A 53-year-old man employed to pose as Santa Claus at Bordeaux's picturesque Christmas market was arrested after brandishing a hunting rifle at his nephew, who was also his boss.
Reports in the local press suggested Santa was angry over unpaid hours. "He felt swindled," reported the paper Sud Ouest.
At around 7.30am on Sunday, Santa arrived brandishing the rifle – which was not loaded – from his car window. The Christmas-tree seller filed a complaint with police who arrested Santa and held him in a police cell for several hours before releasing him.
Officials at the Christmas market in the Allées de Tourny suggested it was a "family altercation".
The police inquiry meant both stalls had to be closed, leaving the market without Christmas trees or a Father Christmas. The market confirmed that a replacement Santa would start work on Tuesday until Christmas Eve.
The Bordeaux market Father Christmas had worked at his chalet for the past three years. His alleged violent score-settling over pay issues with his family did not go down well with other local Santas.
One Father Christmas in another Bordeaux square called it "a bad remake" of the classic French play and film, Le Père Noël est une Ordure, or Santa Claus is a Bastard.
Source: Guardian
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