People in France have likened the country to a dictatorship against the COVID-19 ban.

Among those protesting on the health pass required to visit recreational and cultural sites, but soon it will extend to bars, restaurants and long-distance public transport. To some people, the health pass is reminiscent of the yellow stars that the Nazis forced Jews to wear.

Minister for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, has condemned the rhetoric, stating: “I wish there were many dictatorships like France around the world.”

On Tuesday, the Toulon Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation for public insult caused by Flori’s billboard.

Fleuri’s defence team may be confronted with a 2013 ruling of the European Court of Human Rights, which repealed the offence of insulting the president of the Republic.

The 2013 ruling, Case of Eon vs. France concerned a complaint by the French state against Hervé Eon, who waved a small placard reading “Casse toi pov’con” (“Get lost, you sad prick”) as the president’s party (then Nicolas Sarkozy) was about to pass by.

The court concluded that persecuting Eon was likely to have a chilling effect on satirical forms of expression relating to topical issues.

It added that such forms of expression could play an important role in open discussion of matters of public concern. “It is an indispensable feature of a democratic society,” the ruling added.

But the ruling also said that head of state was protected from insult and public defamation like any ordinary citizen.

Defending himself, Flory said: “You see Hitler, but you can see Stalin, or I can see Charlie Chaplin as a dictator. The purpose of these posters is to question the democracy where decisions are made without discussion in the Health Council.”

This is not the first time that their posters, which they regularly use to comment on political or social issues, have been criticized or put in legal trouble. In a 2019 interview with Mr. Mondialization, he describes how he “tweets” his satirical criticisms of politicians and people in powerful positions through his billboards.