In a speech at the Elysee Palace, the head of state expressed France's "gratitude" towards the returnees from Algeria and acknowledged two "massacres" which occurred after the signing of the Evian agreements of March 19 1962.

He thus described as "unforgivable for the Republic" the shooting of the rue d'Isly in Algiers, in which dozens of supporters of French Algeria were killed by the army on March 26 of that year.

"That day, the French soldiers deployed against employment, badly commanded, fired on French people (...) That day it was a massacre", he declared, adding that "60 years after "this "drama passed over in silence", "France recognizes this tragedy".

Referring to the "atrocious escalation of insecurity and violence", "attacks and assassinations" which marked the end of the Algerian war, Mr. Macron also urged to recognize and "look in the face" the "massacre of July 5, 1962" in Oran, which affected "hundreds of Europeans, mainly French".

"This massacre must be faced and recognized," he said.

"The truth must prevail and history transmitted," insisted the head of state, without alluding to the Algerian authorities.

"A speech does not settle 60 years of injustice (...) But I wanted a few words today to bring recognition to the dramas on which the Republic had never expressed itself", he said. he adds.

And now "the path that it is up to us to take is that of this reconciliation" with the pied-noir community, five to six million people strong in France.

"Proud to be Blackfoot"

His speech was listened to with gravity by a hundred people in the village hall of the Elysée, including returnees, such as director Alexandre Arcady and actress Françoise Fabian, descendants, historians such as specialist Benjamin Stora, and three mayors of towns in the south of France who hosted many of them in 1962.

President Emmanuel Macron on January 26, 2022 at the Elysee Palace in Paris Ludovic MARIN POOL / AFP

"The president's words touched me. I found him honest, sincere. We, the pied-noirs, we need to hear such words (...) that we had never heard", said reacted the mayor of Béziers Robert Ménard, born in Oran 68 years ago and support of Marine Le Pen in the presidential election.

For Christian Estrosi, ex-LR mayor of Nice, Emmanuel Macron used "the right words" and the pied-noirs will be "grateful" to him.

Invited with her daughter to the Elysée, Anne-Marie Perez, born into a Pied-noir family in 1963 in La Rochelle, judged that the president had "accurately pointed out the pains of the French in Algeria".

"I don't know if we can erase them, but this step is important in order to allow us to finally be proud of being pied-noirs".

More circumspect, Jean-Félix Vallat, president of the Association of Farmers and French of North Africa (Mafa), which claims 3,500 members, declared himself "satisfied" with the words of the president while judging that he remained "a lot to do".

Emmanuel Macron "finally begins a rebalancing" of the memory of the Algerian war when all his previous gestures "were towards people close to the Algerian FLN", he regretted.

He was referring to his decisions to acknowledge the responsibility of the French army in the deaths of young communist mathematician Maurice Audin and nationalist lawyer Ali Boumendjel in 1957.

Emmanuel Macron then 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.

LR candidate Valérie Pécresse on Wednesday called this text a "missed appointment with history" which "responds first to an electoral calculation".

This series of memorial acts will continue with the commemoration of the Evian Accords on March 19, ie 20 days before the first round of the presidential election.

The Elysée has indicated that it is preparing this anniversary carefully so that it "is not taken hostage" by politics.

© 2022 AFP