NNA – The Algerian embassy said in a statement this morning, on the occasion of the anniversary of the massacre of May 8, 1945, that “the roots of these events go back to the end of World War II, when colonial France promised the Algerians to grant them independence if they participated with it in the war against the Nazi German forces.”

“With the end of the Second World War with the victory of the Alliances…they called on France to fulfill its promises to grant the Algerians their freedom…However, the authorities of the French occupation met this with the most horrific methods of repression, arrests and mass killings that included men, women, the elderly and children, and the destruction of entire villages and communities, especially in the city of Setif, Guelma and Kharata. As a result of these heinous massacres, more than 45,000 unarmed Algerian civilians were martyred within a few days,” the statement added.

The embassy also indicated that “these events constituted a decisive turning point in the course of the national movement and made the Algerians realize that French colonialism did not understand the language of dialogue and negotiation, and that what was taken by force could only be recovered by force, and then preparations began for the outbreak of the armed revolution that started on November 1, 1954.”

Finally, the Algerian embassy statement considered that this memory “will remain immortal in the minds of the Algerian people, and a living landmark that reminds future generations of the tremendous sacrifices made by the martyrs in order to liberate the nation from the clutches of French colonialism, and a testament to the ugliness of the of French colonialism, which often boasts civilization, freedom and humanity.”

Source: National News Agency-Lebanon