PUBLIER, France, December 5, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – An eastern French town has three months to remove a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary from public land or will face a fine of of €100 a day.
Gaston Lacroix, mayor of Publier, said that a court asked the town to take the statue down because of a national ban on religious symbols in public spaces and that he will try to find private land onto which the statue can be relocated. It has overlooked the shores of Lake Geneva since 2011.
French people took to Twitter to criticize the move as “anti-Catholic” and noted the political left had pushed for the statue's removal.
Un juge oblige la ville de Publier à déplacer une statue de la Vierge Marie ! Encore une pression anti-catholique, anti-chrétienne..On plie!
— Lionel DOLLOT (@LDOLLOT) December 5, 2016
Les juges font supprimer la Vierge Marie du parc de la commune de Publier à la demande d'une association gauchiste. pic.twitter.com/86DTEhFpF1
— André GUERIN (@wegorzewo101) December 3, 2016
Les juges font supprimer la Vierge Marie du parc de la commune de Publier à la demande d’une association gauchiste https://t.co/9SC7ayKE79
— Pascal de Boucaud (@deBoucaud) December 5, 2016
Dans le village de #Publier (Haute-Savoie), le parti socialiste et la Libre pensée font expulser la Vierge Marie.https://t.co/xprl2lbv8s
— Réinformation (@ReinformationRC) December 5, 2016