PARIS: A Congolese activist and four others are going on trial Wednesday on theft charges for trying to remove a 19th-century African funeral pole from a Paris museum, as part of campaign of protests against colonial-era plundering.
Emery Mwazulu Diyabanza has staged similar actions in museums in the Netherlands and the southern French city of Marseille in recent months, inspired by global protests against racial injustice and colonial-era wrongs unleashed by George Floyds death in the U.S. in May at the knee of a white policeman.
In the Paris case, Diyabanza and the other activists stand charged Wednesday of attempted group theft of a historical object, and if convicted, could face up to 10 years in prison and a 150,000 euro fine ($173,000), according to his lawyer.
Arriving defiant at the courthouse, Diyabanza said it’s about time that Africans, Latin Americans and other colonized…