It has become a beloved and memorable landmark for the United States, but now French politician Raphael Glucksmann is calling for the Statue of Liberty to be returned to France.
Despite having strong ties to the structure of New York and America as a whole, the Statue of Liberty is truly a French creation, and even has a sister statue located in Paris.
The statue was first proposed in 1865, when a French political intellectual and anti-slavery activist named Edouard de Laboulaye suggested that it be created to mark the centennial of independence in the United States, as well as the country's friendship with France.
The statue was designed by French sculptor Auguste Bartholdi, before being handed over to the US on June 17, 1885. It was finally erected on Bedloe's Island in 1886, where it has remained ever since...
Amid political tensions between the US and Europe, Glucksmann, a center-left politician in France, declared that the US should return the Statue of Liberty to France.
Speaking at a convention of his center-left movement at Place Publique, Glucksmann said: "We will say to the Americans who have chosen to side with tyrants, to the Americans who fired researchers for their pursuit of scientific freedom: 'Give us back the Statue of Liberty.'"