This Thursday, when France celebrated the victory of democracies over Nazism, thousands of Algerians walked Thursday in Sétif, Algeria, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the bloody repression by France of the independence demonstrations of May 8, 1945. On the spot, they claimed apologies from the old colonial power.
“France must recognize its crimes”: thousands of Algerians walked Thursday in Sétif, Algeria, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the bloody repression by France of the independence demonstrations of May 8, 1945, demanding excuses of the old colonial power.
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“That day, on May 8, it was a Tuesday. I was 17 years old at the time. People were happy all over the world. Here we were massacred,” Saad Maabed, 97, told AFP, borrowing the same course as 80 years earlier.
Thousands of deaths
On May 8, 1945, when France celebrated the victory of democracies over Nazism, independentist demonstrations took place in Sétif, Guelma and Kherrata, three cities in eastern Algeria where nationalists parade, Algerian flags in hand.
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-They were brutally repressed by the colonial forces, killing thousands of people: 45,000 according to the Algerians, from 1,500 to 20,000 dead according to the French. “The facts are the facts. In the Boumarchi district, they had installed machine guns near the bridge so that no one escapes,” recalls Saad Maabed.
“Until now, I am looking for the place where my father was killed and buried. Whether in this hole or those they dug to throw them away,” said Houas Serraï, another 74 -year -old protester. “All of this was told to me by my mother. I was not present. As long as I am alive, I will demand that France recognize its crimes because during the 80th anniversary, she never recognized our cause,” he adds.
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“Memory Day”
Shad El Ouafi came specially from Lyon with the association “France des suburbs”: “I represent the Franco-Algerian youth, a youth who grew up in France and who has a culture despite everything Algerian”, she says proudly. “It is very important for us to get closer to our history and pay tribute to our martyrs,” she said.
“As a granddaughter of Martyrs, I am proud to be Algerian. I question that France apologizes for what it has committed,” abounds Imen Safih, a 23-year-old student. Since its establishment in 2020, Algeria has celebrated the “Day of Memory”, on May 8, 1945.
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A serious diplomatic scramble currently opposes Algiers and Paris on various files including the referral of France from undesirable Algerians and the detention to Algiers since November of the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal.
