A French lawmaker has demanded the U.S. return the Statue of Liberty.
According to Newsweek, Rapheal Glucksmann, a member of the Place Publique party in France, accused the U.S. of being “tyrants” and demanded that the statute that was gifted to America and unveiled on October 28, 1886, be returned to France.
The demand reportedly comes due to the negative response the European Union had to President Donald Trump‘s handling of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Newsweek further reported that many have accused Trump of siding with Russian President Valdimir Putin after a public blow up with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Oval Office in late February.
Glucksmann, who is a Ukraine supporter, recently scolded the U.S. during a party convention and said Trump and Americans have “chosen to side with tyrants.”
“Give us back the Statue of Liberty,” the Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported Glucksmann saying. “We’re going to say to the Americans who have chosen to side with the tyrants, to the Americans who fired researchers for demanding scientific freedom: ‘Give us back the Statue of Liberty.'”
“We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So, it will be just fine here at home,” Glucksmann added.
Glucksmann said Sunday that France also welcomes all those researchers that were fired by the Trump administration.
“The second thing we’re going to say to the Americans is: ‘If you want to fire your best researchers, if you want to fire all the people who, through their freedom and their sense of innovation, their taste for doubt and research, have made your country the world’s leading power, then we’re going to welcome them,'” Glucksmann said.
The French politician also took aim at Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk for his involvement in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been busy uncovering large amounts of government waste. Glucksmann reportedly accused Musk of targeting workers who worked in health and climate research.
Europe is also reportedly sour over Trump’s second withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement that would have cost American taxpayers trillions of dollars.
