As part of the worldwide support of the International Association for the Protection of Gnomes, a day was set aside by the Garden Gnome Liberation Front (GGLF) to recognise and celebrate the liberation of garden ornaments.

In a show of solidarity, the GGLF - which was assumed to be dormant after a northern French court handed down a suspended prison sentence and fine to a GGLF ringleader in 1997 - organised a mass liberation of gnomes on 9 April 2000 during a daring night-time raid of a Paris exhibition. It was reported on CNN TV news broadcasts by 13 April of the same year.

Other GGLF chapters have come out in support of the event by posting horrific pictures of gnomes held in captivity and to protest for the release of all gnomes back to their own gardens.

The amount of suffering that the wretched creatures have had to endure led to the mass suicides of 1998 (eleven were found hanging from a bridge outside Lyon) have thankfully abated, but the good fight goes on.

Since this time, the Front de Libération des Nains de Jardin has relocated some 6000 gnomes to the forests, and cells have appeared across Europe, in America, and in Australia. The last-recorded activity in Australia involved 150 garden gnomes depositing themselves on the steps of the Central Bank in Sydney.

April is most certainly the busiest time for gnome relocation. Reports suggesting that police in the Northern Territory netted a cache of stolen gnomes during a drug raid around 1 April 1998, and to a gang that liberated 100 gnomes from a private garden in the Netherlands around 3 April of the same year - all point to a desire to celebrate on or near this chosen day.

The next phase of the GGLF's action plan is to fight for true integration of the garden gnome community into society, and representations are being made to the United Nations Economic and Social Council and the International Court of Justice in the form of petitions and awareness-raising events. The GGLF is committed to enhancing the partnership between gnomes and humans, and to promote higher standards of living, full employment, and conditions of economic and social progress and development.

If you are a gnome in need of refuge from harassment and bullying, try the European Gnome Sanctuary for persecuted gnomes

While this thread may pretend to be funny, the sad truth is that gnomes are a persecuted minority, and these humourous and paternalistic comments merely exacerbate the situation.