Macron sues billboard owner depicting him as Hitler in poster against compulsory Covid vaccinations

French President Emmanuel Macron is suing the creator of a poster that depicted him as Adolf Hitler as part of a campaign against compulsory Coronavirus vaccinations.

Billboards show the 43-year-old head of state with a Swastika arm band, as well as a Third Reich uniform and black toothbrush moustache.

The picture went on display in the South of France earlier this month, including in the Mediterranean port city of Toulon, next to the slogan ‘Obey: Get Vaccinated’.

In all the posters, the Nazi symbol has been replaced by LREM – a reference to Mr Macron’s party, the Rebublic on the Move.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s lawyers have taken legal action against the billboard artist after the poster went on display  in the South of France earlier this month

Michel-Ange Flori, the multi-millionaire businessman behind the posters, said he had been summoned by local police following legal action by Mr Macron’s lawyers.

‘They confirmed that there had been a complaint from the Elysée,’ Mr Flori told Var-Matin newspaper. ‘I was surprised and shocked.’

Mr Flori, who indicated that he intended to fight the legal complaint, also Tweeted about the incident – comparing it to the Charlie Hebdo controversy, when the satirical magazine suffered a murderous attack by Al-Qaeda terrorists after depicting the Prophet Mohammed exposing his body.

Michel-Ange Flori, the multi-millionaire businessman behind the posters, said he was ‘surprised and shocked’ by the complaint 

Mr Floris said it was outrageous that Muslims could be mocked and humiliated thanks to ‘Je Suis Charlie’ liberalism, but that free expression did not extend to mocking powerful politicians.

‘In Macron-land, showing the Prophet’s rear is satire, making fun of Macron as a dictator is blasphemy,’ Mr Flori wrote.

Mr Floris owns some 400 advertising billboards in the South of France, and often uses them to cause controversy.

One of Flori’s posters of Macron with the caption ‘the scam of the century’ alongside a picture of the president as a vampire and a slogan reading ‘flight over a Cukoo’s nest’

Mr Floris owns some 400 advertising billboards in the South of France, and often uses them to cause controversy (pictured, a poster of Macron with the slogan: ‘Return to social dialogue’)

In 2019, when the anti-government Yellow Vests (Gilets-Jaunes) movement was involved in regular riots, he was fined the equivalent of around £26,000 for criticising the police.

‘The police talk to you every day on BFM-TV’, an advertisement read, referring to alleged police propaganda on the BFM news channel, which is the most popular in France.

Mr Flori, who is from the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, is known for his fiery temperament, and anti-establishment views.

But he has always projected himself as a champion of free speech who despises French ‘Je Suis Charlie’ hypocrisy.