The head of state had drawn the wrath of black footers’ associations after qualifying in 2017, while still a candidate, the colonization of “crime against humanity”.
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The presidential campaigns follow each other and are not alike. On February 15, 2017, just over two months of the election that will see him became head of state, Emmanuel Macron triggered a topriated by declaring, during a trip to Algeria, that colonization represents, in his eyes , “a crime against humanity”. “It’s a real barbarity. And it’s part of this past that we have to look in front, by presenting our excuses with regard to those and those to which we have committed these actions,” then assured the former Minister of The economy in an interview with the Algerian channel Echorouk TV. “Treason!”, Denounced, a few days later, blackfoot associations on the sidelines of a meeting that the candidate organized in Toulon, a host city of many returnees in the aftermath of the Algerian war, in 1962.
One quinquennate later, the electoral context is repeated, as the presidential ballot on 10 and 24 April, but the partition varies. The President of the Republic had to receive at the Elysee, Wednesday, January 26, representatives of “the great family of the returnees of Algeria”, to resume the expression of one of his councilors. Alongside associations, the singer Enrico Macias, the actress Françoise Fabian or the filmmaker Alexandre Arcady, among others, were expected at the presidential palace, just like the mayors of Nice, Christian Estrosi, and Montpellier, Michael Delafosse, two cities -Phares of this community. By communicating this list at the press on Tuesday morning, the Elysee, on the other hand, kept stating that the mayor of Béziers (Hérault), Robert Ménard, support from the National Rally Candidate (RN), Marine Le Pen , too, received, according to our information, an invitation card.
“An unbearable charge”
According to his entourage, Emmanuel Macron intends to wear on the occasion of this reception “a speech of recognition” with respect to a population “which does not claim a law or compensation”. Presidential speech should focus in particular on the shooting of Isly Street, Algiers, on March 26, 1962, who lives several dozens of European protesters falling under the bullets of a largely French army unit. composed of Algerian tirailleurs.
This appointment marks a step further in the construction work of “a tiny, shared memory, commune”, Dixit L’Elysée, engaged following the report on the Franco-Algerian memorial reconciliation given by the historian Benjamin Stora, in January 2021. In September, Mr. Macron asked “forgiveness” to the Harkis, on behalf of the State, to have abandoned them after the war. Three weeks later, he described “inexcusable crimes for the Republic” the massacre of Algerian protesters by the French police, in Paris, October 17, 1961. The hour now came to turn to the French of Algeria, of which Nearly 800,000 left their homeland after signing on March 18, 1962, Evian agreements. “Black feet carries a singular story”, ensures the Elysee, where one defends oneself from any categorical approach. The painting consists, it is said, “by impressionist keys”. With a shadow in the middle.
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