Paris (dpa) – In the French seaside town of Les Sables d’Olonne on the Atlantic coast, a fierce dispute has erupted over a statue of Saint Michael.
In 2018, the city had a bronze statue of the archangel erected on the Place Saint-Michel in front of a church, but on Thursday, the administrative court in Nantes ordered the city to remove the statue within six months after a complaint by the Humanist Federation.
The religious symbol in a public space violates a 1905 law on the separation of church and state, the broadcaster France bleu reported.
France maintains a strict separation of church and state, regularly stressed by politicians. Mayor Yannick Moreau was furious after the ruling, and in the name of common sense and the city he would appeal, he wrote.
«The courts of our country have other things to do than investigate the abusive requests of radical secularists who are accomplices of the ‘Cancel Culture’ and are trying to unhinge, one by one, the millennia-old cultural bonds that have shaped our collective identity,» the mayor wrote on Twitter. He said he wanted to obtain a stay of execution pending an appeal decision.
Meanwhile, comments flew back and forth on social media. «If the courts are so busy, save your appeal,» wrote one,
«Resign if you don’t follow the law,» opined another.
«We support you, hands off Saint Michael in Sables d’Olonne,» was the response from the other side, while one professing Catholic suggested that the 3 square metres of ground on which the statue stands should be bought privately to resolve the conflict.
