"State negrophobia": dismissal of the trial of the tagger of the statue of Colbert

The trial of the author of the “ State Negroophobia ” tag inscribed in June on Colbert's statue before the National Assembly was postponed on Friday August 14 by the Paris Criminal Court to January 18.

To read also: "State negrophobia": the author of the tag on the statue of Colbert in front of the National Assembly judged Friday

Franco Lollia, a 48-year-old Guadeloupe, came to court accompanied by around twenty supporters, some of whom wore “ Anti-Integro- phobia Brigade ” t-shirts . He asked for his trial to be postponed, his lawyer being in Martinique.

Covered in red paint

The activist was arrested at the end of June after covering the statue of Louis XIV's minister with red paint, targeted for his role in the practice of slavery. He inscribed “ State Negrophobia ” on the base of the statue, which had then been cleaned overnight.

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“ For us, this is not an act of vandalism. On the contrary, we went in the direction of the remarks made by Mr. Macron where he said that France must assume the entirety of its history, "Franco Lollia told journalists at the exit of the room. hearing. " Colbert is a criminal against humanity and in particular against Negro-African and Afro-descendant humanity ," said the activist.

Renowned for his economic and industrial voluntarism, Colbert (1619-1683) is also considered to be at the initiative of the Black Code, written in 1685 and which legislated on slavery in the French colonies.

The National Civil Party Assembly

“ We have been asking the French state to account for two decades, it remains silent and this silence is very talkative. He seems to be saying that he does not respect us , ”continued Franco Lollia. " The State is in the role of maintaining an order which always privileges the same ones, one calls that the white privilege ", he further criticized.

Read also: Colbert and the "Black Code": the historical truth

The National Assembly became a civil party to the trial. " For the National Assembly, it is initially simply a case of degradation of the statue of Colbert, a symbol which represents a common history ", explained to journalists the lawyer Saida Benouari.

Franco Lollia's act came in the wake of anti-racism protests around the world after the death of George Floyd, a black man, in a violent police arrest in the United States. Monuments and statues linked to French colonial history or to the slave trade have since been at the center of a memorial controversy.