Activists and supporters of the French far-right movement protested - via social media platforms - the renaming of a school in Marseille (south of the country) after an Algerian fighter who participated in the liberation of the city during World War II and was assassinated by the Nazis.
This came after the mayor of Marseille, Benoit Bayan, announced - during an official ceremony - naming a school located in the third district after the Algerian fighter Ahmed Laytim, who participated in the liberation of the city from the Nazis during World War II.
Cette école de Marseille portait le nom d'un bourreau : Bugeaud.
Aujourd'hui, nous lui donnons un nouveau nom, celui d'un tirailleur algérien, celui d'un héros qui a donné sa vie pour libérer notre ville.
pic.twitter.com/m1pN80mQ75
— Benoît Payan (@BenoitPayan) November 10, 2022
The school was previously named after Marshal Bejo, who was famous for his scorched earth policy, during the French colonization of Algeria.
Bayan said - during his speech, which was published by the city's account via Twitter - that the French are free today thanks to the sacrifices made by Leitim and his comrades in order to expel the Nazis from all French soil.
En donnant aujourd'hui son nom à une école du 3e arrdt, la Ville de Marseille honore la mémoire du Caporal Ahmed Litim, tirailleur algérien, mort en héro pour la Libération de notre ville, le 25 aout 1944.
Plus https d'info http://t.co/ex0VL8qE9Z pic.twitter.com/K1TrR1MhQa
— Ville de Marseille (@marseille) November 10, 2022
Tweeters see the socialist mayor of Marseille as subject to the ideology of the Great Replacement, a theory promoted by the extreme right as a conspiracy against the French race and an effort to replace it with Africans, Arabs and Asians.
Others claimed that canceling the Peugeot name was a dangerous transgression because he was a man of peace, although he was famous for the cruelest methods of torture in the world. During the years of the occupation of Algeria, he ordered to set fire to the caves of the Dhahra region in Mostaganem after the residents sought refuge in them to escape the brutality of the French occupation.
Le maire soumis de Marseille dans son œuvre de grand remplacement https://t.co/eAnExhLG6i
— J r (@JJr12052675) November 11, 2022
A third party supported Bayan's decision, among them academic and activist Rachid Zerrougui, who stressed that the country's atmosphere really required the political courage of the mayor to stop glorifying a man who committed war crimes, and to restore respect for those who sacrificed themselves for the liberation of France.
Cet élu est une honte nationale https://t.co/J7ywRzyQDl
— 🇫🇷 stephane marchand 🇫🇷 (@janotlapin7) November 11, 2022
Leitim was born near Constantine (eastern Algeria) and was assassinated on August 25, 1944, during the battle to liberate Marseille, at the age of 24, after he arrived with a large group of fighters to the city under the banner of General de Latter de Tingue.