Action française de Vendée claims the damage to the statue of Simone Veil in La Roche-sur-Yon

Anti-abortion messages. The same day as the ceremony for the inclusion of the freedom to abort in the French Constitution organized in Paris, the statue of Simone Veil in La Roche-sur-Yon (Vendée) was soiled with red paint and covered with a slogan hostile to voluntary termination of pregnancy. This act was claimed on social networks by Action française de Vendée, a far-right royalist movement.

In a video accompanying the claim, we can see around ten people filmed from behind placing baby dolls sprinkled with fake blood at the foot of Simone Veil’s statue, then dyeing the water in the fountain red. that the statue overlooks. They also placed pieces of cardboard under Simone Veil’s bust claiming that “the Constitution is killing our children”.

A complaint filed

The statue of Simone Veil was vandalized with paint in 2019, less than a week after the inauguration of the square bearing her name in La Roche-sur-Yon. Simone Veil is famous for having adopted in January 1975 the law decriminalizing abortion in France. The town hall of La Roche-sur-Yon emphasized that it had the damage cleaned up on Friday morning by municipal agents and assured AFP that it had immediately filed a complaint with the public prosecutor. The law enshrining abortion in the Constitution was promulgated on Saturday.