During the night of September 30 to October 1, a recently refurbished statue of the Virgin Mary was broken and placed on a pole a little further away, in La Chapelle Thouarault, a township located west of Rennes, near the Hermitage-Mordelles station. The act aroused the indignation of the town hall and local residents.
"We're used to vandalism, in soccer locker rooms or whatever, but this is heinous." Régine Armand, the mayor of La Chapelle-Thouarault, a commune west of Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine), is not upset. During the night of Friday, September 30 to Saturday, October 1, 2022, the statue of the Virgin Mary, which was in the rue de Panais, was "disassociated" from its base, "broken and put back a little further on the road, placed on a post.
Mickaël Chilou, a local resident, alerted the police on Saturday morning: "The community was attached to it. The statue was well maintained, a neighbour had just repainted it and people often put flowers, objects, came to pray. It is shocking".