Martyrs of War Memorial in Algiers

In 2020, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin sparked controversy during his visit to Algeria after posting a video on Twitter attending a memorial at the Monument of the Martyr (makam el-chahid) in Algiers. The monument was inaugurated in 1982 to mark the 20th anniversary of Algerian independence from France and is designed to commemorate the Algerian lives lost in the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962). During the same visit, Darmanin also paid tribute to the French soldiers at the Saint-Eugene cemetery in Bologhine. Only the tribute at the former site, however, caused controversy. The memorial elicited a wave of response and criticism on social media, in the press, and from public fi gures, particularly from the French right. This case focuses on an example of transnational contestation, as the event provoked similarly negative reactions in France and Algeria.