Police: Paparazzi, guards, fight at Jolie chateau

[July 25, 2008]  PARIS (AP) -- It sounds like a scene from "Fight Club." French police say camouflaged paparazzi who got on to the grounds of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's chateau in southern France fought with the Hollywood couple's guards.

Police spokeswoman Capt. Olivia Poupot said Friday the two photographers were wearing camouflage clothes. She said police officers took them and the two guards in for questioning after Thursday's bust-up at the Jolie-Pitt family's Miraval estate.

The police captain said both sides filed legal complaints accusing the other of battery and causing injury. She said she believed the injuries were bruises and scratches and "nothing nasty."

Nevertheless, the guards got doctors' notes giving them four days off work; the photographers did not, she said.

Jolie returned to the estate after the July 12 birth of her twins, Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, in the Mediterranean city of Nice, about 60 miles away.

Poupot said she didn't know how long the paparazzi had been on the chateau grounds or further details about the "altercation with the guards."

"One can imagine that if you discover someone in your garden who is taking your photo then you're not necessarily going to politely show them the way out," she said.

Police took everyone downtown to the nearby village of Carces and took statements. A judge will rule on whether the legal complaints should be pursued further, she said.

Poupot said it was the first time the chateau has called on police to intervene since the Jolie-Pitts settled there earlier this year, ahead of the twins' birth.

The police captain said she had no information on the nationalities or the names of the photographers.

"I won't hide for you that this kind of thing is really not the type of problem that interests us," she said. "There are, in my opinion, far more important things than paparazzi taking photos of a glamour couple."

[Associated Press; By JOHN LEICESTER]

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