“Faidherbe must fall!”: between 200 and 300 people demonstrated on Saturday in Lille in front of the statue of general Faidherbe in order to claim the “withdrawal”, or “at least contextualization”, the “figure of French colonialism, violent and racist”, has found an AFP journalist.
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“Décolonisons, history, and memory!”, chanted the demonstrators who gathered peacefully in from 13: 00 in the face of this imposing equestrian statue erected near the prefecture, at the entrance of one of the main arteries of the city centre.
“Who wants to (again) celebrate colonialism? 200 years is enough!”, was felt a banner installed by this collective, born in 2018 at the time of the bicentenary of the birth of general. Representatives of the association survie (Survival), the FUIQP (united Front of the immigration and the popular districts), of the collective Africa and the defence of the undocumented, or the Workshop of critical history, were present.
“Everywhere in the world, since the death of George Floyd and in the context of the movement #BlackLivesMatter, statues of slavery, of colonialism and white supremacist are fallen. (…) We also have our statue of christopher columbus to debunk!”, called the collective in his call, broadcast on social networks.
