“Don't forget to sort your waste”: Iran calls it an “insult”, Ménard speeds up the withdrawal of his shock campaign in the Béziers Agglomeration

The shock poster caused a stir, even in Iran. Midi Libre

This Thursday, January 9, Iran condemned the poster affixed to the buses of the Béziers Agglo and showing the dictators Kim Jong-Un, Vladimir Putin and Ali Khamenei with a reference to the need to "sort waste". The mayor and president of the Agglo, Robert Ménard, took this reaction seriously and decided to accelerate the withdrawal of the campaign.

Robert Ménard's controversial poster on the buses of the City of Béziers has caused a stir even in Iran, which expressed itself in the most serious terms on the subject on Thursday, January 9. “Iran has condemned the “insulting” poster featuring a photo of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as part of a communication campaign on waste, reports an official media outlet”, indicated AFP.

As a reminder, to encourage the people of Béziers to sort their waste in the Béziers Méditerranée urban area, a poster had been posted on buses running in Béziers since January 4. It featured Kim Jong-Un (North Korea), Vladimir Putin (Russia) and Ali Khamenei (the “supreme guide” of the Islamic revolution in Iran). In white letters on a red background, it read: “Don't forget to sort your waste.“

The French government called upon to take appropriate measures

Tehran responded to this poster published on the City's Facebook account. “The Director General for Western Europe at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Majid Nili, strongly condemned the action of the mayor of a French city insulting the sacred values ​​and personalities of our country,” the official Irna agency reported. Mr. Nili “called on the French government on Thursday to take appropriate measures to prevent the repetition of such provocative actions”, added the Irna agency.

Asked about this shock poster, the mayor of Béziers, Robert Ménard, explained that he had deliberately chosen to adopt a tone in “the Charlie spirit” with the ambition “to call a dictator, a dictator, a tyrant, a tyrant. And that will get people talking about sorting!”

This Thursday morning, however, taking this reaction from Iran seriously, Robert Ménard chose to accelerate the withdrawal of this provocative campaign of a day.

The prefect of Hérault François-Xavier Lauch, for his part, called on the mayor of Béziers to be vigilant on this subject.