05-05-2025
French MPs call on Paris to repent and to recognize the May 8th 1945 heinous massacres in Algeria
The French National Assembly, the lower chamber of parliament, submitted a list signed by 71 deputies, calling on the French state to officially recognize and explicitly condemn the horrendous massacres committed on May 8, 1945 against Algerians in Setif, Kherrata, Guelma and neighboring areas, as a state crime committed against an unarmed people who demanded freedom, dignity and equality.
According to the text of the proposal dated May 5, 2025, seen by Echorouk the bloody repression that took place on May 8, 1945, while France was celebrating its victory over Nazism, is another face of barbarism, this time in a colonial garment, practiced against the Algerian people who came out in peaceful demonstrations demanding legitimate rights, in line with the universal principles established by the United Nations Organization and the wave of liberation of peoples.
These massacres began with the assassination of a young man, Bouzid Saal, for merely raising the Algerian flag, followed by a systematic and widespread repression, under orders from the highest French authorities, including the bombing of entire villages, mass executions, and the physical liquidation of unarmed civilians, making the French state fully responsible for these heinous crime, the signatories of the list noted.
These practices were not isolated or exceptional, but rather fall within the policy of collective punishment adopted by the French occupation since its invasion of Algeria in 1830, towards a people it considered inferior and referred to as 'natives,' in a clear enshrinement of a discriminatory, racist and arrogant system.
The deputies explained that the brutal repression continued for days on end, culminating in the region of Guelma, where French Deputy Governor Andre Achiar supervised the formation of local militias that carried out field liquidation operations that killed thousands of Algerians, while the evidence was covered up and the work of the investigation committee assigned to General Tubert was obstructed.
The document stressed that serious academic and historical works agree that the number of victims amounted to tens of thousands of martyrs, which makes it the duty of the French Republic to officially recognize that what happened is a state crime committed against civilians, and completely contradicts the values it claims to defend.
The deputies cited the testimony of French General Duval, who said after the massacres: 'I have given you ten years of peace, but everything must change in Algeria,' in a clear acknowledgment of the deep impact these heinous atrocities had on the relationship between France and the Algerian people.
They also recalled that the first official recognition by the French authorities did not occur until 2005, when the French ambassador to Algeria at the time, Hubert Collin de Verdier, described what happened as an 'unforgivable tragedy.' They considered that the time has come for a full political recognition issued by the French Parliament, in order to turn the page of denial and start writing a common history on the basis of truth and justice.
The proposal called for the full opening of documents and archives related to these tragic events, the establishment of an official national day to commemorate the horrific massacres of May 8, 1945, and their inclusion in French educational programs, in addition to supporting the process of historical reconciliation and mutual recognition between France and Algeria.
The deputies concluded by calling on the French government to strengthen joint work with Algeria in the field of memory and history, including the May 8 massacres, which constituted a pivotal moment in the Algerian national struggle against the brutal yoke of colonization.
