It was 60 years ago. France commemorates Saturday, March 19 the anniversary of the Evian agreements and the ceasefire in Algeria. During a ceremony at the Elysee Palace organized from 12 p.m., Emmanuel Macron will again plead for a “appeasement” memories on both shores of the Mediterranean. A ceremony to follow live on franceinfo.fr.
A controversial date. This anniversary date was enshrined in law in 2012 as the “National day of remembrance and meditation in memory of the civilian and military victims of the war in Algeria and the fighting in Tunisia and Morocco”. But the returnees believe that the Evian agreements do not mark the end of the Algerian war which began in 1954, because of the violence which continued until the country’s independence on July 5, 1962 and ended by the exodus of hundreds of thousands of them to France.
Divisions between the presidential candidates. This position of returnees is supported by several candidates from the right and the extreme right. Valérie Pécresse (LR) has thus undertaken to find “another date” on March 19 to commemorate the end of the Algerian war. Marine Le Pen (RN) also stressed that she contested “since a long time” this date because “there were tens of thousands of harkis who were brutally murdered” after March 19, 1962.
200 guests at the Elysée. Some 200 guests were invited to the Elysée village hall at 12 noon, representing the witnesses of all the memories linked to the Algerian war: conscripts, independence fighters, harkis and repatriates. Before Emmanuel Macron’s speech, the floor will be given to four people who participated in the “History and memories of the Algerian war” program, in particular by speaking in colleges and high schools.