Emmanuel Macron's posters wearing Hitler's uniform prompt legal action in France

A giant billboard comparing France’s President Emmanuel Macron with the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler has attracted widespread backlash and outrage. The controversial poster was put on display in Toulon, Var for a public view over the weekend as citizens took to the streets to demonstrate against the government’s recent mandate on COVID-19 jabs and health passes. The image depicted Macron having a Hitler-esque moustache as he wore the Nazi dictator-styled uniform. It carried a slogan in white letters on a red background that read: “Obey, get vaccinated!”

The billboard is said to have been drawn and unveiled by the controversial artist Michel-Ange Flori, a staunch critic of the Macron government, according to French radio network France Bleu. Flori has designed almost 400 billboards set up between Bandol and Hyères in France and has been a defender of France’s anti-elite  Gilets Jaunes [yellow vests] movement. The Var advertiser had put billboards that stated "I awarded the Benalla prize to police commander Andrieux, who had punched demonstrators,” and "Does President Macron bring bad luck to France?” after the blazing of Notre-Dame of Paris. 

In the town of Ollioules last year, he had displayed the French PM Edouard Philippe and Emmanuel Macron with caps, whip, chains, and leather clothes with a caption: “Return of social dialogue,” Flori was summoned to the Toulon central police station for another poster that showed Emmanuel Macron as a vampire bat flying over an election ballot box, last year in December. 

Macron's vaccine mandate invokes public revolt

French President Macron invited the criticism as he issued orders last week for all the doctors, nurses and administrative staff in France to get inoculated compulsorily against the coronavirus by September 15, or they would be kicked out of their jobs. His announcement triggered widespread demonstrations across France that objected to Macron’s announcement as a threat to their rights and freedoms. The poster popped up as the protests swelled across several French cities including Marseille, Lyon, and Lille.

Meanwhile, French prime minister Jean Castex told a presser amid the outrage that the vaccination was the only way to curb the rising infections of the COVID-19. “It is the best way to cope to this health crisis,” he stressed, adding,  “I hear the reluctance that arises but I think that we must at all costs convince all our fellow citizens to be vaccinated.”