The town hall of Sables-d’Olonne, in Vendée, will have respected the request of the Council of State by ousting the statue of the archangel Saint-Michel from the public space, and this in the name of secularism. Said work was actually moved just a few meters away, but on a private plot, property of the parish since its acquisition… at the town hall.
“The ayatollahs of secularism will have pushed our statue back a few meters, but they will have advanced our desire to defend our culture and our art of living”, declared at a press conference the mayor various right, Yannick Moreau.
The statue will be moved “during September” to a 53m2 plot along the Saint-Michel church sold “around 3,000 euros” to the parish by the municipality, on which an access ramp for people with reduced mobility will also be installed. statue was previously installed at the front of the forecourt, on public land.
In December 2021, the administrative court of Nantes had agreed with the association La Libre Pensée which asked the municipality that this statue be moved out of the public space. The decision had been confirmed by the administrative court of appeal in September 2022 then by the Council of State in April 2023.
“The handful of radical secularists will have their debunking but the will of the Sablais is respected because the statue of Saint-Michel will remain in its place, completely legally,” said Yannick Moreau, pointing to the “storm of cancel culture” or culture cancellation, which aims to “cancel” remarks deemed controversial and push their authors to apologize.
A consultation was organized in March 2022 on the fate of the statue, during which 94% of the 4,593 participants – for 45,000 inhabitants – voted for the maintenance of the statue in the public space.
Present in the city between 1935 and 2017 in the grounds of a private school, the statue had been moved on October 6, 2018 and installed on the new forecourt of the Saint-Michel church. Its installation had been the subject of a blessing by a Catholic priest. ending the controversy.
