A French politician has demanded the US return the Statue of Liberty to France following the actions of the Trump administration.
MEP Raphaël Glucksmann said Americans should give the statue back after ‘choosing to side with the tyrants.’
The statue was famously gifted to America by France in 1884 as a gesture of goodwill to commemorate the alliance between the two nations.
But Glucksmann has claimed the US “no longer embodies the values the sculpture represents,” France 24 reports.
Speaking at a convention of his Place Publique centre-left movement on Sunday, the lawmaker said: “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 went on to criticise Donald Trump for his cuts to US research institutions.
He told supporters: “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.'”
This was in reference to a French government initiative which aims to attract US researchers to France.
The Statue of Liberty was unveiled in New York in 1886, with a plaque at the base of the sculpture featuring the famous inscription: “Give me your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
Since being inaugurated as president earlier this year, Trump has promised to conduct mass deportations and is reportedly set to ban people from 43 countries from travelling to the US.
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