Activists destroy Martinique’s statue

FORT-DE-FRANCE: Anti-racism activists tore down a statue of Napoleon’s empress Josephine and another colonialist figure in the overseas French territory of Martinique, the latest test of President Emmanuel Macron’s vow not to erase controversial monuments.

A statue of Josephine de Beauharnais, who was born to a wealthy colonial family on the island and later became Napoleon’s first wife and empress, was attacked by a crowd of people wielding clubs and ropes, according to an AFP journalist in Fort-de-France on Sunday.

The emperor reintroduced slavery in French colonies in 1802, eight years after it had been banned under the French Revolution. Josephine’s statue had already been decapitated nearly 30 years ago, and never been repaired since.

A short distance away, the activists also destroyed a statue of Pierre Belain d’Esnambuc, the trader who established the first French colony on Martinique in 1635.