Marseille Appeal Court Upholds Removal Order of Village Cross in Quasquara
On 26 June 2026, the Administrative Court of Appeal of Marseille upheld a ruling requiring the removal of a cross erected by the municipality of Quasquara in 2022. The court found that the cross, installed on municipal land, violated French secularism laws of 1905 governing the display of religious symbols on public property. The decision concerns a Christian monument that local authorities and residents had defended as part of the village's heritage and identity.
On 26 June 2026, the Administrative Court of Appeal of Marseille rejected an appeal lodged by the municipality of Quasquara against an earlier judgment, in 2025, from the Bastia Administrative Court, which ordered the removal of a cross erected at the entrance to the village in 2022. The proceedings originated from a legal challenge brought forward by a local resident in 2023 seeking the removal of the monument, after the mayor had refused to remove it at her request.
The cross was installed on municipal land and blessed by a priest during its inauguration in November 2022. The municipality argued that the monument replaced an older cross that had existed in the village before the adoption of the 1905 Law on the Separation of Churches and State, which had disappeared over 30 years before the installation of the new one. While the law on the Separation of Churches and State "allows the replacement of religious emblems prior" to that date, it opposes "the installation, by a municipality, on a public site, of a new Christian cross". The court concluded that the 2022 structure constituted a new installation rather than the replacement of a pre-existing monument, noting that several decades had elapsed between the disappearance of the former cross and the erection of the new one and that the two monuments were located at different sites within the village.
The case concerns a restriction on the public display of a Christian symbol. Relying on Article 28 of the 1905 Law, the court held that the installation of a new cross on a public site was incompatible with the principle of state neutrality and therefore unlawful. The municipality's arguments referring to local heritage, identity, and support among residents were not accepted by the court as grounds for an exception to the legislation. This case is not an isolated incident of courts ordering the removal of a public Christian symbol based on the 1905 secularism laws (OIDAC reported).
According to the reports, the cross had received broad support from local residents and municipal representatives, who regarded it as a symbol of the village's heritage, history, and identity. Following the petition filed by the local resident, rallies were organised at the site and a petition entitled "To keep the Quasquara cross: a symbol of our heritage and identity" was launched online, where it reportedly collected 53,719 signatures. Following the ruling, residents gathered near the monument to express their attachment to the cross and their wish for it to remain in place. The mayor has two months to appeal the decision.
Sources: corsematin, france3-regions
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