A sculpture representing the Algerian emir Abdelkader (1808-1883) which was to be inaugurated this Saturday February 4 in Amboise, was vandalized during the night from Friday to Saturday. An act that aroused the indignation and consternation of the public authorities.
According to the New Republic, the work in rusty steel sheet, made by the Touraine sculptor Michel Audiard, was gutted. “We oppose our solidarity in the face of this despicable act, and with those who take pleasure in hatred against others, in the rewriting of history”, reacted Thierry Boutard, the mayor of Amboise, on the sidelines of the ceremony.
Following this act of vandalism, the Amboise gendarmerie opened an investigation to identify the perpetrator(s). For the time being, the gesture has not been claimed.
An act of reconciliation
Leader of the resistance to the French conquest, the Algerian Emir Abdelkader was also a respected spiritual figure and favorable to a tolerant Islam.
This tribute responded to the original idea of the historian Benjamin Stora, author of a report on the memorial reconciliation between France and Algeria, who saw in this historical figure a symbol of appeasement.
