Paris Police Arrest Man for Attempting to Repatriate Louvre Statue to Africa, Reports Say

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Paris security forces have arrested a man for the attempted theft of an Indonesian sculpture on display in the Louvre museum, which he claimed to be a part of African heritage which "was stolen", the broadcaster BFMTV reported late on Monday, citing the Louvre administration.

"The teams avoided the theft and any degradation of the sculpture," the museum administration was cited by the broadcaster as saying.

The media outlet added that a complaint was filed immediately after the attempted theft.

The arrest came on 22 October after an African man tried to take away an Indonesian statue dating back to the 18th century from the collections of the Branly-Jacques Chirac museum. The attempt was caught on CCTV camera, with the footage later posted on social media. In the video, the perpetrator explains that he had come to claim the goods "stolen from Africa".

Militant African walked into the Louvre museum in Paris at the weekend and tried to walk away with an artefact saying 'He's taking what France stole from Africa', BTW the artefact is from Indonesia.

Jack Dawkins telegram pic.twitter.com/JHGVWM56uU

— mark🇬🇧🇬🇧 (@JohnjoL20) October 26, 2020