The prefect of Réunion contacted the public prosecutor on Wednesday after Brigitte Bardot‘s remarks. On Tuesday, the 84-year-old former actress and president of the animal rights foundation that bears her name spoke out violently against the people of Réunion in an open letter about animal abuse.
“Cannibalism”, “savages” and “barbarian traditions”
In this letter signed with her name, Brigitte Bardot states that “the indigenous people have preserved their genes (Yes) “savages”, accusing the people of Reunion of “barbarism” against animals. It haphazardly evokes “reminiscences of the cannibalism of past centuries”, “a degenerate population still imbued with ancestral customs, with barbaric traditions which are their roots”.
The Foreign Minister, Annick Girardin, present on the island on Tuesday, immediately condemned the offensive terms of the letter and announced that she would join the complaint presented by the prefect.
Several elected officials from Réunion and overseas, as well as some from mainland France, also denounced this letter.
The interministerial delegate for the fight against racism, anti-Semitism and anti-LGBT hatred, Frédéric Potier, also reacted: “The Réunion Islanders are French citizens and deserve respect. I fully support Annick Girardin’s outrage and reaction,” he tweeted.
For the Representative Council of the French Overseas (Crefom), “these are clearly racist insults”. ” THE cannibalsTHE barbariansTHE degenerates and the wild they were slavers just like those who today transmit the prejudices on which the crime was based (of slavery). The pretext of the fight against animal abuse does not authorize anyone to make such abject and racist statements with impunity about a population that has suffered similar violence in the past”, claims Crefom.
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