Why did fighting break out after France granted citizenship to wealthy affranchis in 1791?

In May 1791, the French revolutionary government granted citizenship to the wealthier affranchis (free people of mixed or African descent) in the colony of Saint-Domingue, now Haiti. Fighting broke out because the colony's European population refused to comply with this law.12

This refusal by the white colonists exacerbated existing tensions within the deeply fragmented society, where affranchis had long faced discrimination despite their aspirations for social and economic equality with Europeans. Within two months of the French decree, isolated fighting erupted between the European colonists and the affranchis. By August 1791, these conflicts escalated further when thousands of enslaved people rose in rebellion, marking a significant phase in the Haitian Revolution.231