Seville - After first alerting the media, 200 Spanish left-wing activists, in all-out Robin Hood manner, openly "stole" shopping carts full of school supplies from a Carrefour supermarket in Seville on Friday. The goods were for needy children in the area.

According to an AFP photographer at the scene, more than 200 members of the Sindicato Andaluz de Trabajadores (Andalucían Union of Workers) came charging out of a Carrefour hypermarket in the small town of Dos Hermanas in Seville.

The activists were pushing around 8-10 shopping carts full to the brim with exercise books, pens, pencils, erasers, dictionaries and other school necessities, which they quickly loaded into vans and drove away.

The group was led by Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo*, the controversial mayor of the Andalucían town of Marinaleda (pictured below right). Sánchez is a member of the regional parliament with the Communist, pro-environment, Izquierda Unida (United Left) party.