Religious activists go on stage during Les Accroche-Coeurs festival

Pour la première fois en quinze ans, un spectacle du festival des arts de la rue, Les Accroche-Coeurs, a été interrompu par des manifestants religieux. Après avoir en premier lieu décidé de l'annuler en raison d'un risque de trouble à l'ordre public, la mairie d'Angers s'est finalement résolue à le représenter.

One of the numerous shows of the street art festival, Les Accroche-Coeurs, has triggerred incidents from religious activists on September 13th, which led Angers town hall to cancel the play in open air circumstances, then to authorize it in a closed space the following day. "Squames", a three hour show played by the Kumulus company, has been interrupted by twelve muslims integrists brandishing the Kuran and shouting insults like "impure", "racists", "bitches" and "little prick" leading the actors to suspend the play. After the decision of cancellation made public, the other street art companies (about 60) taking part to the festival announced their decision to stop immediately their participation, what would have purely and solely ended the 2014 edition of Les Accroche-Coeurs.

Credit Pictures : Kumulus

The Kumulus company explains that "Squames" is a show "making echo to the ethnological exhibitions which took place in France less than a century [even in Angers like a municipal exhibition recently reminded it]. That play invites everyone to question himself about the look we have on others, on the way we treat differences and denounces the multiple forms of racism. It confronts the critical sense of passer-by". After the Angers city "apologized for that show which may have shocked some festival-goers", the Kumulus company, on the contrary, "refused to apologize because of the content of its show. That one, which is played since 30 years all over the world, is in no way an apology of racism, on the contrary. Today, more than ever, we must fight obscurantism".

In the end, the show was performed on Sunday 14 in the Le Quai theatre. This is the first time, such an incident occurs during Les Accroche-Coeurs. But a few years ago, another show had triggered criticism from Catholic people.