After a heated controversy on social networks, a mural fresco of antisemitic character depicting French President Emmanuel Macron as a puppet in the hands of Jewish writer and economist Jacques Attali will be removed in the city of Avignon.
The Mayor of Avignon, a city in southeastern France which is known worlwide for its festival for performing arts, initially opposed to remove the mural in the name of ”freedom of expression.”
The anti-Semitic character of the drawing by Lekto, an artist accustomed to controversial political cartoons had been strongly denounced by politicians and associations. The mural was made on an electrical transformer at the northeast entrance of Avignon.
The removal of the fresco was announced by the president of the Grand Avignon, Joel Guin. “I contacted the director general of services of Avignon asking him to take the necessary measures to erase this fresco,” he said.
The fresco had been painted recently on a large wall in a place known to street-artists, who regularly decorate a water management building freely.
On Friday morning, painters began to cover the wall of the mural with white paint.
The National Bureau of Vigilance Against Antisemitism (BNCVA) said it has intrustected its its counsel, ‘’to lodge a complaint and to seek out any local complicity that may have allowed such a conspiracy and anti-Jewish fresco.‘’
Contacted by i24NEWS channel, Jacques Attali, a former minister, said he found “scandalous that the city of Avignon has let this mural and refused to remove it.’’
‘’This image uses all the codes of anti-Semitic propaganda and fascist iconography. Refusing to delete it in the name of ‘freedom of expression’ is a scandal,” said Raphaël Glucksmann, a Socialist member of the European Parliament.