This act of vandalism was strongly denounced by the elected officials present on the spot. The sculpture in tribute to the Emir Abdelkader (1808-1883) was degraded the night before its inauguration on Saturday in Amboise, noted a journalist on the spot. World. It is in this commune of Indre-et-Loire that the Algerian national hero had been detained with several members of his family from 1848 to 1852.
The work titled Passage Abdelkaderwhich represents the Emir Abdelkader cut out of a sheet of rusty steel, was largely damaged at the level of the lower part of the structure.
#FranceAlgeria. In Amboise, the steel statue representing Emir Abdelkader damaged the night before his inauguration… https://t.co/Dd6Ln3OxvB
“The work was degraded during the night, cut out by a grinder, under Abdelkader’s waist. This part has been cut and twisted, it makes a huge hole on the artwork. The gendarmerie made rounds until 4 a.m., so it took place after”specified to World Hélène Mauranges, general director of services for the city of Amboise.
“The fight for friendship between France and Algeria continues”
On the spot, the mayor of Amboise, Thierry Boutard, denounced a “despicable rampage” in “period when some take pleasure in the hatred of others”
Present at the ceremony and recently returned to Paris after the crisis opened by remarks by the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, the Algerian ambassador to France, Mohamed Antar Daoud reacted in a tone of appeasement. ” The fight for friendship between France and Algeria continues, to make the Mediterranean not a lake of divisions but a lake of shared peace. It will be necessary to heal the wound of what is only an act of vandalism. »
Also present on Saturday morning for the inauguration were the sculptor Michel Audiard, Senator LR Isabelle Raimond-Pavero, LRM deputy Daniel Labaronne, as well as the LR president of the departmental council, Jean-Gérard Paumier.