Alexis Delafontaine with AFP / Photo credit: Xose Bouzas / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP 06:48, May 08, 2023

On this day of commemoration of the victory of the Allies, Emmanuel Macron will attend the traditional ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe and then go to Lyon, to the Montluc Prison Memorial, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the arrest and death of Jean Moulin. A day under high security due to the tense political context.

Emmanuel Macron pays tribute to Jean Moulin and the Resistance, this Monday, May 8 in Lyon, after the traditional ceremony of Victory at the Arc de Triomphe. Commemorations under high security in the face of the new demonstrations expected against the head of state and the pension reform.

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As with every celebration of the victory over Nazi Germany, on May 8, 1945, the Head of State went up the Champs-Elysées in Paris, accompanied by the large escort of the Republican Guard, on horseback and motorized. Then, he must join the Arc de Triomphe at 11 am for the laying of wreaths, the revival of the flame and the minute of silence in front of the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, in the presence of Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.

Prohibited gatherings

Faced with the risk of "breaks", recurrent since the adoption of the pension reform, any gathering has been banned near the Champs-Elysées. In Lyon, the situation could be tense with calls to demonstrate, which could gather several hundred people according to a police source, near the Memorial of the prison of Montluc, where Jean Moulin and other figures of the Resistance were detained and where the tribute ceremony will take place.

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The Rhône prefecture has banned all gatherings in this area and the CGT has announced that it is filing an appeal against this ban. Emmanuel Macron is expected around 14:30 pm at the old prison for a tribute to the "French Resistance and the victims of Nazi barbarism," says the Elysee. He will be accompanied by the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, the Minister of National Education Pap Ndiaye and the Secretary of State for Veterans and Memory, Patricia Miralles.

Opening of a new memorial cycle

The Lyon ceremony, as we approach the 80th anniversary of the arrest and death of Jean Moulin, opens a new memorial cycle that will continue on June 6, 2024 with the commemoration of the Normandy landings and will end on May 8, 2025 for the 80th anniversary of Victory. Prefect from 1937 to 1940, first president of the National Council of the Resistance (CNR), Jean Moulin was arrested on June 21, 1943 in Caluire, near Lyon, by the local head of the Gestapo, Klaus Barbie.

Horribly tortured, he remained silent and died of injuries on July 8, 1943 in Metz station on the train that was taking him to Germany. Emmanuel Macron will visit his cell and that of the "butcher of Lyon", Klaus Barbie, who spent a night in Montluc after his arrest in 1983. He was sentenced to life imprisonment four years later.

Jean Moulin, the spirit of free France

The head of state will recall "the essential political role" played by Jean Moulin in the unification of the Resistance and the emergence of a free France and "exalt through him this spirit of resistance which is specific to the French people," says the Elysee. "This is what allowed General de Gaulle to become a key player vis-à-vis the Anglo-Saxons" and the France to join the camp of the victors after the mistakes of the collaborationist Vichy regime, stresses the presidency.

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"All this would not have been possible if Jean Moulin had not gathered around him all the forces of renewal," she said. Will the Head of State, who is trying to turn the page on the pension crisis, take the opportunity to launch a new call for "concord"? This prospect bristles his opponents in advance.

"The best tribute that can be paid (to the Resistance) is to defend their heritage, that (..) of social security and pay-as-you-go pensions", comments the CGT of the Rhône. The president of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, for his part, considers "unacceptable" the calls to demonstrate on such a day. "There is a time for everything. (May 8) is the time of memory, contemplation and gathering in our country," he said Sunday.