Anti-racism activist faces Paris court over statue attack

Franco Lollia arrives at the Paris courthouse (Thibault Camus/AP)

A French activist for black rights has gone on trial in Paris for defacing a statue of a historical figure from France’s colonial, slave-trading past, calling the protest a political act to denounce deep-seated racism.

Franco Lollia is on trial for spraying “state Negrophobia” in red paint on the pedestal of a statue outside parliament in Paris last June.