The French city of Avignon has opened a probe into public insults and „provocation to rebellion” after posters caricaturing President Emmanuel Macron as Adolf Hitler were found on dozens of billboards in the southern city.
Around 30 posters appeared this week depicting President Emmanuel Macron as Adolf Hitler in the southern French city of Avignon. They show the head of state wearing a suit, with greying hair and the number „49.3” imprinted as a Hitler moustache, framed by the words „No thank you” and the hashtag #agirousubir (act or suffer), reports the rfi.
The numbers reference the article of the Constitution that was used to force through the new pension reform legislation in the National Assembly.
The posters are a reproduction of a mural created in Avignon by the artist Letko that was erased in April. Letko is known for a since-deleted fresco from 2022, which he painted on the same wall depicting Macron as the puppet of Jewish political advisor Jacques Attali. The authorities considered it antisemitic and removed it.
„How far will they go in the indignity and abjectness? It is high time to sanction in the most severe way possible those who engage in such odious campaigns,” tweeted the president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur region, Renaud Muselier.
The town hall of Avignon said it would file a complaint and mobilised the police to remove the posters.
Prosecutors believe those responsible for the posters would incur penalties of two months in prison and €7,500 in fines for provocation to rebellion, and €12,000 in penalties for insulting the president.