Despite strong opposition from left-wing representatives, Frédéric Masquelier, the mayor of Saint-Raphaël on the French Riviera, unveiled France's first monument to the "victims of communism" on Saturday, August 23. Masquelier, a member of the right-wing party Les Républicains, said, "Nazism and communism (...) are two sides of the same tragic coin." The monument depicts a man pushing back two massive blocks and was placed next to a memorial dedicated to the martyrs of the Resistance, many of whom were communists.

On Saturday evening, the town hall team organized an event it hoped would bring people together. However, it turned out to resemble a political rally more than anything else. Hundreds of supporters wearing caps with the town hall's logo sat facing the setting sun. Municipal staff in polo shirts surrounded them, busy preparing for the reception. A few onlookers in swimsuits stood behind the security barriers, trying to understand what was happening.

Meanwhile, activists from the Parti Communiste Français (PCF) and representatives from left-wing groups, including Les Ecologistes (France's green party), La France Insoumise and the Socialists, as well as members of the CGT labor union and the French Human Rights League, demonstrated outside city hall in front of bewildered tourists. According to PCF lawmaker Ian Brossat, they rallied against what they described as "historical revisionism."

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