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# Activists Fined After Anti-colonial Protest at Quai Branly Museum
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/quai-branly-museum-trial-verdict/
- Published: 2020-10-14T21:45:19.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:42:42.000Z
- Description: Four activists were fined for their live-streamed protest at the Paris museum, in which Mwazulu Diyabanza removed a 19th-century funerary post from its display.
- Author: Jasmine Weber
- Tags: In Brief, France, Musée du quai Branly, Paris, Repatriation, Restitution, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 09:08 (2019, 2020, part 3)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/25711864521_9b6fb28ead_k.jpg)

This June, a cohort of activists staged a noteworthy intervention at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris to protest its collection of looted African objects. Mwazulu Diyabanza, a member of the Pan-African group [Les Marrons Unis Dignes et Courageux](http://www.marron-unitedignitecourage.net/?ref=hyperallergic.com) (the Worthy and Courageous Maroons), removed a 19th-century funerary post from its display before beginning a march through the museum. During a live-streamed speech, he denounced the collection of colonial artifacts. 

On September 30, the five activists [stood trial on charges of attempted theft](https://hyperallergic.com/latest-in-restitutions-september/), facing up to 10 years in prison and €150,000 (\~$176,000) in fines. While Diyabanza initially stated he intended to repatriate the post, which is from modern-day Chad or Sudan, he denies that the protest was truly an attempt to steal the artifact, but rather a symbolic act in support of repatriation.

[According to the *Art Newspaper*](https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/congolese-activist-fined-eur1-000-for-trying-to-seize-african-funeral-pole-from-paris-museum?ref=hyperallergic.com), today’s verdict resulted in respective fines of €250 (\~$293), €750 (\~$880), and €1,000 (\~$1174) for three of Diyabanza’s colleagues, while one of the activists was found innocent. As reported by the *Art Newspaper,* Diyabanza was ordered to pay €2,000 (\~$2,349) total, due to a suspended fine of €1,000 from a previous case.

[According to the AP](https://apnews.com/article/paris-crime-museums-theft-racial-injustice-9ca317a67bb32f7d024474e6ae41c928?ref=hyperallergic.com), Diyabanza told reporters he intends to appeal the court’s ruling, asserting that the verdict reflected “the judges of a government that fails in its moral duties.”

“We get our legitimacy from the perpetual idea of trying to recover our heritage and giving our people access to it,” he added.