Victor Schoelcher (1804-1893) decreed the abolition of slavery on April 27, 1848. But his inheritance divides in Guyana, where individuals have dropped a bronze statue representing him alongside a slave.
"The facts were discovered around 2:30 am Saturday (7:30 am in Paris) and brought to the attention of the police station which immediately started the investigation," deputy prosecutor Jean-Claude Belot told AFP. “The statue was not fixed on its base so that it was not unbolted. She was lifted and thrown to the ground. Obviously the neighborhood was not woken up, " said the magistrate.
Read also: Controversial statues: “we must explain, not debunk”, judge Stéphane Bern
This statue represents Victor Schoelcher taking, with his left arm, a slave, by the shoulder. Schoelcher, right arm raised, palm open, seems to evoke the horizon of freedom.
No witnesses on site
"No city camera was aimed at the statue," replied the deputy prosecutor asked on this point. According to him, the statue lying on the ground "was recovered for the needs of the investigation, the usual samples were taken and the statue was put in safety" .
“It had to be done with a system of straps, towed by a vehicle to bring down the statue so it takes little time. (...) And there are few residents in this place, ” said a police source. Place Schoelcher in Cayenne mainly has business premises (shops, banks, etc.) but also inhabited buildings.
To read also: Loris Chavanette: "We, historians, do not take lightly the degradation of statues"
The monument had been smeared with red paint recently. And on May 22, two other statues by Victor Schoelcher were destroyed in Martinique. Activists wanted to denounce schoelcherism by this act. They criticize the abolitionist in particular for his colonialism.
In the wake of protests against racial inequalities sparked by the death of George Floyd, an African American killed by a white policeman in Minneapolis on May 25, numerous statues of figures linked to colonial history or to discrimination have been debunked or attacked, in the United States and elsewhere in the world.