Sculpture of an Algerian resistance hero who was vandalized before the inauguration in France
Vandals in central France damaged a sculpture of an Algerian military hero who resisted France’s colonization of the North African country, just hours before it was inaugurated on Saturday, AFP reporters reported.
The lower part of the steel sculpture in the city of Amboise, where Emir Abdelkader was imprisoned from 1848 to 1852, was badly damaged in the attack that comes in the middle of an election campaign dominated by harsh rhetoric about immigration and Islam.
Amboise Mayor Thierry Boutard said he was “ashamed” of those responsible and decided to continue with the inauguration ceremony regardless.
– I was ashamed that someone would treat a work of art and an artist in this way, he says to AFP.
“My second feeling is, of course, one of indignation. This is a day of harmony and unity and this kind of behavior is unspeakable,” he said.
Police said they were investigating the incident.
The sculpture was commissioned to coincide with the 60th anniversary of Algeria’s independence from France, won after a brutal eight-year war of liberation that continues to poison relations between the two countries.
It was suggested by a historian commissioned by President Emmanuel Macron to come up with ways to heal the memories of the war and 132 years of French rule in Algeria.
The sculpture of Abdelkader, an Islamic scholar who became a military leader who resisted French rule but was hailed as a hero in France for his later defense of Christians in the Middle East, looks across the Loire River towards the castle where he was imprisoned.
“Nasty atmosphere” Algeria’s ambassador to France Mohamed Antar Daoud, who was present at the inauguration, condemned the attack as an act of “indescribable rainfall” and said he was confident that the disruptive reconciliation process between the two countries would continue.
Ouassila Soum, a 37-year-old French woman with an Algerian background who attended the inauguration, said the vandalism left her “with a knot in her stomach”.
“It is a pity and yet it is not surprising with the rhetoric of hatred and the nauseating current atmosphere,” Soum said, praising the sculpture as “a symbol of reconciliation between peoples and civilizations.”
Emir Abdelkader, called “France’s worst enemy” in the late 19th century, is considered one of the founders of today’s Algeria for his role in mobilizing opposition to French rule.
The uprising he led failed, however, and he surrendered to French forces, who sent him to France, where he and his family spent four years under guard at Amboise Castle.
He later moved to Syria where he won international acclaim for defending Christians during sectarian attacks.
He was awarded the Legion of Honor, France’s highest award for his role in trying to end the persecution.
An unnamed war: France’s controversial colonial past in Algeria
(AFP)
