ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — A man with a hammer has attacked and damaged a statue of a bare-breasted woman, an emblem of the eastern city of Setif, in the latest in a series of such attacks.
Setif communications director Mohamed Topuiri said Tuesday that a Salafist, someone who adheres to a conservative brand of Islam, disfigured the face, breasts and arm of the statue, which is the centerpiece of a fountain.
Culture Minister Azzasedine Mihoubi, who's from Setif, tweeted that the culprit was arrested. He suggested it was the same man who damaged the statue last year.
The colonial-era statue is the work of French sculptor Francis Saint Vidal, dating to 1889.
In 1997, when extremist violence raged, Islamists dynamited the statue, which was repaired in Italy.
