PARIS (AP) — A French court has convicted and fined a Black rights activist for defacing a statue he sees as an insult to democracy and to the descendants of slaves. Franco Lollia painted and sprayed “State Negrophobia” in red paint on a statue of Jean-Baptiste Colbert in Paris. Colbert was a 17th-century royal minister who helped write rules governing slaves in French overseas colonies. The vandalized Colbert statue stands prominently outside France’s lower house of Parliament. Lollia said his act was purely political and a protest over racial injustice. The court ordered him to pay more than $1,800 in fines and damages. His legal team said they will appeal.
