Movie legend Brigitte Bardot is facing prosecution for inciting racial hatred after calling French people from Reunion Island 'degenerate savages'.

The 84-year-old former sex symbol said she was furious that many of those living on the overseas territory in the Indian Ocean were cruel to animals.

'The natives have kept their savage genes,' Miss Bardot wrote in an open letter to local governors on the island, which has a population of almost a million.

She was particularly angry about Hindus on Reunion 'sacrificing goats', and said that those on the 'demonic isle' were also cruel to cats and dogs.

Miss Bardot said that Hindus who took part in 'Indian Tamil festivals beheaded goats, and then threw their entrails into the sea, attracting sharks', who in turn threatened swimmers.

Brigitte Bardot, the former French film star turned animal rights activist, made comments about people from Reunion Island in which she described them as 'degenerate savages'

The 84-year-old film star's comments have been referred to French prosecutors by the prefect of Reunion Island

She also referred to 'the cannibalism of past centuries' and described those from Reunion, who are predominantly Catholic, as 'a degenerate population still immersed in barbaric ancestral traditions'.

Miss Bardot, who shot to fame in the 1956 film '...And God Created Woman', evoked the 'cannibalism of past centuries' as she lashed 'a degenerate population still soaked in barbarous ancestral traditions'.

Despite her glamorous image, Paris-born Miss Bardot already has five criminal convictions for inciting hatred, mainly against Muslims for halal slaughter, and Jews for their preparation of kosher food.

She has openly supported France's far-Right National Front, which is now called the National Rally, as well as the Yellow Vests movement that is now responsible for weekly riots across France.

It was Amaury de Saint-Quentin, the Prefect of Reunion, who referred Miss Bardot's latest hateful outburst to French public prosecutors.

Today he issued a statement saying Miss Bardot's language 'included insulting and racist terms likely to constitute an offence'.

Annick Girardin, the French overseas territories minister on Reunion, also said Miss Bardot's comments were 'insulting and racist'.

'Ordinary racism has no place in the exchange of opinions', Girardin said on Tuesday, adding that she would add her name to the complaint filed by the island's prefect.

Miss Bardot quit the movie industry in 1973 and now runs an animal sanctuary in the French Riviera resort of St Tropez

In Paris, the president of the lower house of parliament, Richard Ferrand, expressed his 'contempt' for Bardot's comments.

Didier Robert, President of the Reunion region, described her as 'irresponsible, outrageous and contemptuous'.

He said her letter contained deeply racist terms that were 'absolutely unacceptable'.

During previous court appearances in France, Miss Bardot has received substantial fines and been forced to apologise for her bigotry.

She is a close friend of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the FN, who has been convicted for anti-Semitism, racism and Holocaust denial. His daughter, Marine Le Pen, now runs the party.

Miss Bardot quit the movie industry in 1973 and now runs an animal sanctuary in the French Riviera resort of St Tropez, where she first shot to stardom in the 1950s.

Animal rights activists say abuse of animals is common on the island and that animal sacrifice is tolerated in some religious ceremonies.

Reunion, which is 6000 miles from Paris, is one of five overseas departments and regions of France.

It is a favoured holiday destination of thousands from Europe.

The island, east of Madagascar, has also made headlines in recent years for a spate of fatal shark attacks.