Paris statue of colonial governor defaced amid anti-racism protests

Red paint thrown on the statue of Hubert Lyautey, the former French governor of colonies in Morocco, Algeria, Madagascar and Indochina and eventually minister in Paris during the First World War.

It is a new manifestation of the rejection of slavery and colonialist figures born after the African-American George Floyd was killed by a white policeman in May in Minnesota.

Demonstrations also in Lille, in the north of the country in front of the statue of Faidherbe responsible for the massacres of several tens of thousands of people in present-day Senegal.

Also in Paris, protesters attacked the figure of the philosopher Voltaire, whose fortune was partly based on the colonial pact.

Faced with calls from Afro-descendants in France and the West Indies to decolonize history, French President Emmanuel Macron has said he will not unbolt the statue.