Algeria declares French colonisation a crime and demands reparations Submitted by MEE staff on Thu, 12/25/2025 - 10:50 Lawmakers demand Paris return looted artefacts and apologise formally for 132 year occupation Algerian and French flags are on display in Algiers during the French prime minister's official visit on 9 October 2022 (Alain Jocard/AFP) Off Algeria’s parliament has unanimously passed a landmark law declaring France’s colonisation of the country a crime, demanding a formal apology and reparations. The legislation also criminalises the glorification of French colonialism, which resulted in the deaths of at least 1.5 million Algerians during the war of independence between 1954 and 1962. Lawmakers on Thursday evening celebrated the vote, draped in national colours and chanting “long live Algeria”, signalling a national reckoning with France’s brutal colonial legacy. The law holds France “legally responsible” for the “tragedies it caused” and asserts that “full and fair” compensation is an “inalienable right of the Algerian state and people”. France invaded Algeria in 1830 and remained in the country until 1962. Its rule involved mass killings, the relegation of native Algerian Muslims to second-class subjects, torture and deportations. French President Emmanuel Macron has previously described France’s colonisation as a “crime against humanity”, but he has stopped short of offering an apology. Far-right parties in France, including Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN), have consistently resisted acknowledgement of colonial atrocities. Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, fought in the Battle of Algiers and was implicated in torture. RN members have publicly defended colonialism, dismissed reports of repression and condemned government efforts to reconcile memories of the past. The move comes amid global pressure on former colonial powers to return looted artefacts and offer reparations. 'French obsession with Algeria' Algeria has also demanded the return of the 16th-century bronze cannon Baba Merzoug, a historic relic of Algiers taken by French forces in 1830 and now located in Brest, France. France has previously repatriated the decapitated heads of 24 Algerian fighters killed while resisting colonial rule. Macron introduces new French visa restrictions against Algeria Read More » The skulls belonging to 19th-century Algerian resistance fighters were taken to France as trophies and displayed in a museum in Paris. Algeria hosted a conference of African states last month to press for reparations. Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf said legal measures would ensure restitution is neither “a gift nor a favour”. For historian Benjamin Stora, a leading specialist in French colonisation and the Algerian war of independence, the current crisis reflects the persistence of a memory problem linked to this difficult past. "In France at the moment there is an obsession with Algeria, with a kind of daily repetition of grievances," he told Middle East Eye in March. According to Stora, this "terrible obsession" - fuelled both by political leaders and media outlets close to the far right - "summons a kind of colonial unconscious". Stora explained that the people who experienced colonisation, whether colonisers or colonised, have internalised the power relations typical of the colonial period, as if Algeria were still a French colony and should submit to the dictates of Paris. Former Algerian diplomat and minister of culture and communication, Abdelaziz Rahabi, declared that some have "the feeling that we are back to the time of the colonies". In February, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune denounced the "deleterious climate" between the two countries and urged his French counterpart to "make his voice heard" to end the conflict. Inside Algeria News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0