The statue of the former President of the Republic, installed on the Jacques-Chirac course, in Old Nice, was vandalized on the night of Tuesday 27 to Wednesday 28 December.
A blue fleur-de-lis accompanied by the inscription
“Nice royaliste”
has been tagged on its base.
In a tweet published Wednesday morning, Anthony Borré, deputy mayor of Nice in charge of security, praised
"the work of the municipal police who arrested the two perpetrators"
adding that one of them
" was carrying brass knuckles
.
Éric Ciotti, the president of the Republicans, also expressed himself on his Twitter account deploring an act
"deeply disrespectful"
.
This is not the first time that the statue of Jacques Chirac has been damaged.
Just days after its inauguration in February 2020, two fingers had been severed.
A year later, anarchist inscriptions were spray-engraved with red paint on its base.
By November 2022, both fingers had been severed again.
Christian Estrosi, the Mayor of the city had then affirmed that the City would
“immediately
” contact the artist “
so that he could intervene as soon as possible”
.