Besançon: two arrests after the degradation of a statue of Victor Hugo

Europe 1 with AFP 7:41 p.m., November 24, 2022

Two men were arrested on Thursday, suspected of having damaged two statues in Besançon, one of which bears the effigy of Victor Hugo, works of the Senegalese artist Ousmane Sow, we learned from the police.

The two suspects, aged 20 and 22, were taken into police custody as part of a flagrant investigation, opened after the discovery, on Monday, of damage to the statue of Victor Hugo, whose current renovation has is the subject of controversy.

A statue being restored

The statue, inaugurated in 2003, was being restored on Saturday when the local daily,

, mentioned the work carried out by the foundry of the Coubertin Foundation, emphasizing the colors of the statue, and in particular the appearance dark of the face, in bronze, writing "Victor Hugo took a hell of a sunburn".

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The daily cited in particular Béatrice Soulé, the artist's former companion and artistic agent (who died in 2016), joined "in Senegal", who seemed to disapprove of the restoration work carried out.

"It looks like a black Victor Hugo, which was never Ousmane's intention," she said, pointing out that "the original face was flesh-colored".

"Opportunist revisionism of the town hall of Besançon"

Many critics and press articles on the renovation of the statue then flourished, targeting in particular the mayor of Besançon, the ecologist Anne Vignot.

In a column published by

, the academic Xavier-Laurent Salvador tackled "the opportunist revisionism of the town hall of Besançon".

On Monday, the statue was found defaced, a coat of white paint covering the writer's face and hands.

The town hall then announced that it was filing a complaint, stating that the much-criticized renovation was not finished.

On Wednesday,

, another statue by Ousmane Sow erected in Besançon, was also covered in white paint on its hands and face.

"The laundering of his works are serious and alarming acts which are part of a deep and uninhibited racism that certain political leaders encourage and feed", reacted the town hall, calling for "cohesion" in the face of this racist vandalism.

The Minister of Culture "scandalized"

Asked by AFP, Béatrice Soulé regretted "a false debate around the supposed negritude of this new representation" after "an unfortunate article on the work in progress, far from the final result", while supporting the skater in charge of catering.

Her initial remarks related to "a stage of work", before a consultation with catering professionals on "the recovery to be done", she explained.

She also expressed her wish to send a right of reply to Le Figaro.

"This Victor Hugo is superb, once finished," she said.

"It wasn't over when they all went up in flames."

Thursday on Twitter, the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, said she was "scandalized to see sculptures by Ousmane Sow vandalized".

"Hands and faces of the statue + The man and the child + whitewashed: signature of an explicitly racist act", lamented the minister, regretting a "sickening attack against the work of an immense Senegalese artist who loved so much the France".

The Besançon prosecutor, Etienne Manteaux, will hold a press conference on this case on Friday afternoon.