French politician, European Parliament member wants U.S. to return Statue of Liberty

French politician and European Parliament member Raphael Glucksmann suggested Sunday that France should take back the Statue of Liberty because the U.S. allegedly is not a free country anymore.

"Give us back the Statue of Liberty," said Glucksmann, a member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats political group, said Sunday at the rally. 

In a video of the rally, with English subtitles, he seemed to imply his rationale for taking back the statue was particularly about Trump administration officials cutting funding for federal agencies that conduct scientific and medical research.

Glucksmann criticized American voters for choosing "to side with the tyrants" and politicians for firing "researchers for demanding scientific freedom," adding that they "despise" the Statue of Liberty because of the values it represents.

"We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently, you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home,'" he said, according to France 24.

The French people gifted Auguste Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty to the United States and unveiled it in New York City's harbor on Oct. 28, 1886, to commemorate the centennial of the American Declaration of Independence.