PARIS, March 31, 2009 (AFP) - Angry French workers on Tuesday March 31 besieged retail tycoon Francois-Henri Pinault in a Paris taxi, prompting police to intervene, union officials said.

François-Henri Pinault photographed in 2008 (Photo: AFP)

One of France's richest men, Pinault found himself surrounded by about 50 protesting workers as he left a meeting of his PPR retail group in Paris.

The protestors are employed by two PPR-owned retailers, Fnac and Conforama, hit by a cost-cutting plan that could lead to 1,200 job losses in France.

Police were dispatched to the scene in Paris's 15th district and helped clear the way for the chief executive to leave in his taxi after a one-hour standoff with employees.

The incident happened on the same day as workers at a factory run by the US firm Caterpillar held five managers to protest plans to slash hundreds of jobs at the plant in the southern city of Grenoble.

It was the third time in March that executives had been held by French workers outraged at job losses sparked by the global economic crisis.