In the debate is still very intense on the restitution of works of art, a scene to say the least, a special was held Friday at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris. A group of five men, denouncing the “dispossession of African wealth “have ripped off of its base and a post funeral Bari of the 19th century, before being stopped by the police, a-t-on learned from several sources. A complaint has been filed by the museum and a police investigation is in progress, a-t-on indicated to the Quai Branly, where you don’t want to make any comment. “Five individuals have been arrested and placed in custody of the chiefs ‘attempt of theft in a meeting of a movable item classified’,” said the Agency France-Press the public prosecutor of Paris, who entrusted the investigation to the commissioner from the 7th district.
The five men were filmed long after we entered the museum re-opened since Tuesday, according to the video posted online. One sees there one of the five men, who introduces himself as a national of the democratic Republic of the Congo, to unseal the post funeral, assisted by another, before taking him in the hallways. While he is being filmed, the man screams his criticism against France : “we have decided to retrieve what belongs to us”. “These goods were stolen under the settlement. We share with our well, it’s back to the house,” repeated he to the guards who the apostrophent and try to retain them. In the end, the police come to question them.
Protesters in #Paris’ Musée du Quai #Branly were demanding the museum to give back sti artefacts to their countries of origin today. The protesters called for the Musée du Quai Branly to make its artifacts to their countries of origin today. pic.twitter.com/oXbEQqofED
— Elisa Miebach (@elisamiebach) June 12, 2020
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Franck Riester condemned
the minister of Culture, Frank Riester condemned in a press release “in the strongest possible terms” those acts “that violate the heritage”. It notes that these men “have issued messages of a political nature and questioned the presence of this work, and others, in the French collections”. “If the debate on the restitution of works from the african continent is perfectly legitimate, it does not in any way justify this type of actions,” said Franck Riester. “The work seems to have undergone no significant degradation and the museum will take without delay all measures to carry out any restorations required,” said the minister.
Read also : Hélène Leloup : “The restitution of works announced are not to be diverted from their meaning”
The issue of refunds of african works that have happened in the public museums of france for the settlement is particularly sensitive and controversial. The Quai Branly Museum has the main collection of arts, the first african.
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