8 May commemoration: President announces a law on national memory
This story has a map. Tap to see itOn the 81st anniversary of the massacres of 8 May 1945, President Tebboune announced a draft law on national memory. A French government minister attended the commemoration in Sétif.
In his message for the National Day of Remembrance, the president described the killings at Sétif, Guelma and Kherrata as genocide. Algerian sources give 45,000 dead, and historians give estimates between 15,000 and 45,000.
At President Macron's request, the French Minister Delegate for the Armed Forces, Alice Rufo, attended the commemoration in Sétif. The Élysée also said the French ambassador, Stéphane Romatet, would resume his work in Algeria.
In France, commemorations took place in Marseille, at Place du 8 mai in Saint-Denis, and in Fontaine near Grenoble.
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