The place had just reopened five short days ago. A group of five men, denouncing the "dispossession of Africa of its wealth", entered Friday at the Musée du Quai-Branly in Paris, where they tore from its base a 19th century Bari funeral pole, before being arrested by the police. A complaint has been filed by the museum and a police investigation is underway, says one at Quai Branly, where no comments are wished.
"Five individuals were arrested and placed in police custody of the heads of attempted robbery in the meeting of a classified movable object," said the Paris prosecutor's office, which entrusted the investigation to the police station in the 7th arrondissement.
Protesters in #Paris' Musée du Quai #Branly were demanding the museum to give back its artefacts to their countries of origin today. Protesters asked the Musée du Quai Branly to return its artifacts to their countries of origin today. pic.twitter.com/oXbEQqofED
- Elisa Miebach (@elisamiebach) June 12, 2020They filmed themselves at length after entering the reopened museum on Tuesday, according to the video posted online. We see one of the five men, who presents himself as a national of the Democratic Republic of Congo, unsealing the funeral pole, helped by another, before taking him down the corridors.
A “damage to heritage”
While he is being filmed, the man shouts his criticisms against France: "We have decided to recover what belongs to us". “These goods were stolen from us during colonization. We leave with our property, we bring it home, ”he repeats to the guards who apostrophy and try to hold them back. At the end, the police come to arrest them.
The Minister of Culture Franck Riester condemns in a press release "with the greatest firmness" these acts "which damage heritage". He noted that these men "formulated messages of a political nature and disputed the presence of this work, and others, in the French collections".
"If the debate on the restitution of works from the African continent is perfectly legitimate, it can in no way justify this type of action", adds Franck Riester. And the Minister adds: "The work does not seem to have undergone any significant deterioration and the museum will immediately take all measures to complete any restorations required. "
Newsletter - The essentials of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
The question of the restitution of African works which arrived in French public museums during the colonization is particularly sensitive and controversial. The Musée du Quai-Branly has the main collection of early African art.