近日，一张法国男子用法国国旗擦屁股的照片令法国民众感到愕然和愤怒。照片中，一名男子背对着镜头，裤子堆在脚踝处，一面法国国旗挡在臀部，可以看得出他是在用国旗擦屁股。法国司法部长称这种侮辱国旗的行为是不可接受的，并下令对该行为人诉诸于法律。

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The French government is demanding the prosecution of a man photographed wiping his bottom on the national flag.

France's justice minister has called for legal action to be taken against a man who was photographed wiping his bottom with the French flag.

Michele Alliot-Marie said it was unacceptable for the tricolor（三色旗） to be insulted in this way, and called for those responsible to be prosecuted².

Her response came after the photograph was displayed in a competition run by the media retailer³, FNAC.

The image won a special mention in the "politically incorrect" category.

Taken on the street, the photograph shows a man seen from behind: his trousers are around his ankles and he is apparently⁴ wiping his bottom with a French flag.

Law-change call

The picture appeared last month in Metro⁵, a free national newspaper, and was hastily withdrawn⁶ from the contest in the southern city of Nice after complaints from veterans' groups.

"As soon as we saw that people were shocked by the image, we withdrew it from the list of winners, with the photographer's consent（同意，赞成） , and we have not exhibited it," said a FNAC spokeswoman.

The government got involved after being alerted by a local MP, says a reporter in Paris.

But under French law, it is only an offence to insult the flag in an event organized by the public authorities - not in a private, cultural event such as this.

Ms Alliot-Marie said the law should be changed.

"Presumably the law has the legal means to punish such an intolerable（无法忍受的） act against the French flag," said the minister's spokesman.

"If the existing law proves incomplete in this regard, it should be revised."