« Indignation », ” shame “, “cowardice”. A sculpture in tribute to the Emir Abdelkader (1808-1883) was vandalized before its inauguration, Saturday February 5, in Amboise (Indre-et-Loire), arousing widespread condemnation, noted on the spot a journalist from the World. It is in this commune of Indre-et-Loire that the Algerian national hero had been detained with several members of his family from 1848 to 1852.
The work entitled Passage Abdelkader, which represents the Emir Abdelkader cut out of a sheet of rusty steel, was extensively damaged at the level of the lower part of the structure.
#FranceAlgeria. In Amboise, the steel statue representing Emir Abdelkader damaged the night before his inauguration… https://t.co/Dd6Ln3OxvB
“The work was degraded during the night, cut out by a grinder, under Abdelkader’s waist. This part has been cut and twisted, it makes a huge hole on the artwork. The gendarmerie made rounds until 4 a.m., so it took place after”, specified to World Hélène Mauranges, general director of services for the city of Amboise.
The prosecutor of Tours, Grégoire Dulin, announced the opening of an investigation for “serious damage to property intended for public utility and belonging to a public person”.
“Let us remember what unites us. The Republic will erase no trace or name from its history. She will not forget any of her works. She will not unbolt statues”, condemned Emmanuel Macron in a reaction sent to Agence France-Presse.
The Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot also condemned “firmly” degradation. “We wanted to tackle a work of art, and the message of reconciliation of memories it carries”, wrote the minister on Twitter.
I strongly condemn the degradation inflicted on the sculpture representing the Emir Abdelkader, in Amboise. We wanted… https://t.co/JPeL03gpFr
Speaking at the end of the launch day of the Forum de l’islam de France in Paris, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin also disagreed “this act which is profoundly stupid”. “The increase in anti-religious acts is not a good sign of the health of French society”, he said.
“The fight for friendship between France and Algeria continues”
On the spot, the mayor of Amboise, Thierry Boutard, denounced a “despicable rampage” in “a period when some take pleasure in hating others”.
“I was ashamed that we treat a work of art and an artist of this kind. The second feeling is, of course, outrage. It is a day of harmony that must unite and such behavior is unspeakable “, he commented to AFP. The mayor also let it be known that the work would be “restored and redone”. The artist estimated that the sculpture could be redone within a month.
Also present on Saturday morning for the inauguration were the sculptor Michel Audiard, Senator LR Isabelle Raimond-Pavero, LRM deputy Daniel Labaronne, as well as the LR president of the departmental council, Jean-Gérard Paumier.
The artist Michel Audiard confided his pain to see his work partly destroyed. “It really is a premeditated rampage. You need a grinder, you have to cut, you have to twist. It’s an act of cowardice, (…) it’s not signed, it’s free. We were there to celebrate an emblematic character in tolerance, and there, it is an intolerant act. I’m down”, he blurted out.
Also present at the ceremony and recently returned to Paris after the crisis opened by the words of the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, the Algerian ambassador to France, Mohamed Antar Daoud reacted in a tone of appeasement:
« The fight for friendship between France and Algeria continues, to make the Mediterranean not a lake of divisions but a lake of shared peace. It will be necessary to heal the wound of what is only an act of vandalism. »
Abdelkader, a figure of tolerance
This work had been proposed by the historian Benjamin Stora in his report on “Memorial questions relating to colonization and the war in Algeria”, submitted to Emmanuel Macron in January 2021. Mr. Stora denounced on Saturday “obscurantism and ignorance” of those who vandalized the sculpture, calling for the inauguration to be maintained and the statue restored.
“I am for maintaining the inauguration at all costs. We must resume work, ensure that the statue is raised and that those who are in obscurantism, illiteracy and ignorance do not triumph., he estimated, judging the act of vandalism “appalling”.
Emir Abdelkader Ibn Mahieddine (1808-1883) is a figure in the history of Algeria. The one who was nicknamed “France’s greatest enemy” played a big role in the refusal of the French colonial presence in Algeria. He is considered one of the founders of modern Algeria.
After his surrender, he was imprisoned in Pau, Toulon, then in the Château d’Amboise from 1848 until his release in 1852. This “gateway man”, as Benjamin Stora describes it, then went into exile in Damascus, where he distinguished himself in 1860, defending the Christians of Syria, who were in the throes of persecution. This act will make him a symbol of tolerance. He will be awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor.