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A man dressed as Santa Claus stands on the beach in Deauville, western France.
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Santa Claus has been forced to carry out his Christmas duties cowering1 under a hard hat after youths in a Scottish town pelted2 him with festive3 mince4 pies.
Santa was hit by a hail of pastry5 and dried fruit as the youths launched a barrage6 of mince pies from the upper level of the shopping centre in Paisley, west of Glasgow.
Now worried shopping centre chiefs, fearing a repeat siege of Santa, have taken "drastic" measures, issuing him with a builder-style hard hat.
"We are a multi-level centre, and have taken this somewhat drastic action to protect Santa from possible injury," Andrew MacKinnon, the centre manager, explained.
"Such an incident does give rise to health and safety concerns, and we take the safety of our staff very seriously."
Santa's new hard hat has been decorated with red reindeer7 antlers to "Christmas it up a bit," he added.
Derek Mackay, the Scottish National Party leader, said the mince pie "madness" could harm Paisley, home of the famous Paisley pattern.
The manager said that a gang of local "neds," or yobs, threw the pies before running off. Last year, the centre's Father Christmas was set upon by youths calling him a "fraud and a fake."
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日前，苏格兰某小镇的圣诞老人遭到“百果馅饼”的袭击，因此不得不戴着安全帽上岗。
格拉斯哥西部小镇佩斯利购物中心的圣诞老人遭到几个青年发动的一场"馅饼袭击"，馅饼和干果像下冰雹似的从天而降。
购物中心的负责人担心圣诞老人再遭袭击，因此采取了“有力的”保护措施，发给他一顶建筑工地专用安全帽。
购物中心经理安德鲁·麦克基侬解释说：“我们这个购物中心有好几层，这一措施应该能对圣诞老人起到保护作用。”
“这种袭击事故引起我们对员工健康和安全的担忧，我们十分重视员工的人身安全。”
他说，为了“烘托圣诞气氛”，他们在圣诞老人的新头盔上装上了红色的驯鹿角。
佩斯利小镇是“佩斯利螺旋花纹”之乡。苏格兰民族党主席德里克·麦克凯说，圣诞老人遭袭事件会影响到佩斯利的声誉。
安德鲁经理说，当时一群小混混用馅饼袭击了圣诞老人后逃之夭夭。去年，购物中心的圣诞老人则是遭到了人身攻击，一群小混混说他是“骗子、冒牌货”。
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