French President Emmanuel Macron sues billboard owner over comparisons to Hitler

The President of France is suing a billboard owner over a poster that depicts him as Adolf Hitler.

The posters that appeared in Toulon – the capital of the Var – and La Seyne-Sur-Mer depict the President as the Nazi dictator and are accompanied by the phrase “Obéis fais-toi vacciner”, which translates as “Obey Get vaccinated.”

An image of the billboard was tweeted by Michel-Ange Flori, the owner and creator behind the billboards, who wrote: “Is there a vaccine against acute Macronitis? Will France become Macronistan?”

In response to the news of President Macron’s legal action, Mr Flori told a local newspaper that the police “confirmed that there had been a complaint from the Elysée. I was surprised and shocked.” Mr Flori also tweeted: “In Macron-land, showing the Prophet’s rear is satire, making fun of Macron as a dictator is blasphemy.”

According to Mr Flori’s own tweet, he is being sued for “insult and incitement to hatred.”

It has been reported that Mr Flori has claimed that he “has produced at least 100 provocative posters, insisting he is exercising his right to freedom of expression.”

Last month, President Macron condemned antisemitism in an historic address with a ten-minute long video to the American Jewish Committee, reaffirming France’s “commitment to defending religious freedom and tolerance.”

Anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination networks have become known as hotbeds of antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes.

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