Protesting workers held the executive chairman of TDF, the French television broadcast operator, hostage today in the latest case of bossnapping in France.

About 600 employees invaded the group's headquarters outside Paris to demand the withdrawal of a redundancy plan.

Patrick Babin, the executive chairman, was detained in his office, before being released as the striking staff joined a protest march.

"We're asking him to scrap his restructuring plan," said Bruno Rabardel, a representative of the Confédération générale du Travail union.

The incident follows a spate of bossnappings in France amid anger over rising unemployment.

Managers at Sony, the Japanese electronics giant, 3M, the American scotch-tape manufacturer, Caterpillar, the US heavy equipment specialist, and Scapa, the British glue maker, are amongst those held hostage this year.

A spokeswoman for TDF's Works Council said the bossnapping had occurred in a "respectful atmosphere."

The outbreak of violence comes two weeks after the group, which is owned by Texas Pacific, the American investment fund, and Axa, the French insurer, announced plans to cut 550 jobs out of a total of 2,400.

The redundancies come as TDF, which has more than 7,500 broadcast towers in Europe, prepares for the switch to digital television in France in 2011.

Unions said they were planning to hold a demonstration later today by the Eiffel Tower, where TDF has a transmission tower.

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