Feminists in France are demanding that an iconic statue based on the famous VJ-day photo is torn down because it ‘portrays a sexual assault’.

The sculpture, which honours a photograph of a kiss in Times Square that captured New York’s celebration as the Second World War ended, is currently on display outside the Caen Memorial Museum near Pegasus Bridge in Normandy.

It has been given to the museum on a one-year loan by the Sculpture Foundation in California to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

Feminists are calling for the 25ft sculpture to be removed from outside Normandy's Caen Memorial Museum

Sculptor J. Seward Johnson Jr. created the giant piece of artwork after being inspired by Alfred Eisenstaedt's historic black and white photograph taken on V-J Day (Victory over Japan Day) on August 14, 1945 (above)

However, the statue – which is 25ft tall and weighs 13 tonnes – has been criticised by French feminists who claim it shows ‘an assault’.

The ‘Unconditional Surrender’ sculpture – which is also nicknamed The Kiss – shows a sailor kissing a woman while one arm is around her waist and another supports her neck.

French feminist group Osez Le Feminisme has complained the statue represents a ‘sexual assault’ because the woman had the kiss 'forced upon her' by the sailor.

The group, which has started a petition calling for it be removed, also claims the photographer who took the original photo – Alfred Eisenstaedt – said the sailor had grabbed and tried to kiss all the women around him before the shot was taken.

A spokesman for Osez Le Feminisme said: ‘We cannot accept that the Caen Memorial erected a sexual assault as a symbol of peace.

The iconic statue in Times Sqaure, New York

‘We therefore request the removal of this sculpture as soon as possible.

‘The sailor could have laughed with these women, hugged them, asked them if he could kiss them with joy.

‘No, he chose to grab them with a firm hand to kiss them. It was an assault.’

The petition has so far attracted more than 700 signatures.

However, Stephane Grimaldi, director of the Caen Memorial Museum, said the woman in the photograph had always maintained she had been happy to have been kissed.

‘She never considered that she was assaulted,’ he said.

But feminists have claimed the woman - Greta Zimmer Friedman from Austria – has previously said she had been unable to escape.

In 2012, Ms Friedman said: 'I have not seen him approaching, and before I understand what is happening, I found myself gripped in a vice. You caught me. This man was very strong. I kissed it, it was he who kissed me.’

However, despite her recollection, the dental nurse has never made a complaint.

The historic black and white photograph was captured on V-J Day (Victory over Japan Day) on August 14, 1945 by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt.

Sailor George Mendonsa has been identified as the man in the photo who kissed Ms Friedman in Midtown Manhattan as the nation celebrated the end of the conflict.

The picture was published by LIFE magazine and has become a symbol of the nation's joy at seeing an end to the devastating fighting that claimed the lives of more than 400,000 Americans.

Sculptor J. Seward Johnson Jr. said he created the giant piece of artwork, inspired by the photograph, because he wanted to keep the famous pose alive.

It was put in place in Normandy by cranes and construction crews on September 23.

The museum said it has no plans to remove the statue, which will stay on its current site for the next 12 months.

Greta Friedman (pictured left as a young woman and right recently) was the recipient of the infamous kiss