Emmanuel Macron brought this Wednesday afternoon “a word of gratitude” to the returnees from Algeria. Commonly called the Pieds-noirs, they were badly marked by their exodus after the end of the Algerian war.
Emmanuel Macron particularly returned to the shooting in the rue d’Isly on March 26, 1962 in Algiers. On that day, a week after the signing of the Evian Accords and the ceasefire, civilian demonstrators in favor of French Algeria who were trying to force their way to the Bab El-Oued district were machine-gunned by the French army.
The shooting lasted more than a quarter of an hour and caused, according to various sources, at least fifty deaths among the demonstrators.
“That day French soldiers deployed against purpose, badly ordered, morally affected, shot at French people, ”acknowledged Emmanuel Macron. “France recognizes this tragedy. This massacre of March 26, 1962 is unforgivable for the Republic”, he declared, adding that “all the French archives on this tragedy can be studied freely”.
Pieds-noirs “nor recognizeus, nor accepted”
The shooting in the rue d’Ilsy marked the beginning of the mass exodus of Pieds-noirs from Algeria, “a tragic page in our national history”. Upon their arrival in France, the pied-noirs were often “neither understood nor accepted”, regretted Emmanuel Macron. However, these men and women “have participated with ardor in the construction and modernization of the country”.
If Emmanuel Macron recognizes the responsibility of the French army in the death of French citizens, he also demanded that the Oran massacre of July 5, 1962 be “faced and recognized”. Several Pieds-noirs perished that day, victims of a veritable “hunt” for Europeans led by Algerian soldiers and civilians.
MANY MEMORIAL GESTURES SINCE 2017
This new gesture by Emmanuel Macron is part of a series of memorial acts carried out since the beginning of the five-year term and corresponds to the approach of the 60th anniversary of the end of the Algerian war with the Evian Accords then the independence of this country on July 5, 1962.
On September 14, 2018, Emmanuel Macron thus acknowledged, “in the name of the French Republic”, that the young communist mathematician Maurice Audin had been “tortured to death, or tortured and then executed by the French army” in 1957. March 3 2021, he acknowledged that the nationalist lawyer Ali Boumendjel had also been “tortured and murdered” on March 23, 1957 by the French army, contradicting the initial version of a suicide.
On September 20, 2021, the Head of State asked “forgiveness” to the harkis, Algerian auxiliaries to the French army, who were “abandoned” by France. A bill, recording this “pardon” and attempting to “repair” the damage suffered, is currently being examined in Parliament and should be adopted by the end of February.
Emmanuel Macron had also denounced “inexcusable crimes for the Republic” during the 60th anniversary of the massacre by the French police of Algerian demonstrators, on October 17, 1961 in Paris.
INEQUAL RELATIONS WITH PIEDS-NOIRS ASSOCIATIONS
Relations have remained complicated between the executive and the returnees since Emmanuel Macron described colonization as a “crime against humanity” during a trip to Algiers in 2017. Many associations are calling for these remarks to be withdrawn and the One of them, Le Cercle Algerianiste, declined the invitation to the Elysée Palace until it was.
As for memorial exchanges with Algeria, they are at a standstill. “France has made a number of gestures. The hand is still outstretched and the president is waiting for someone to take it,” observed the Elysée.