During a visit to Algiers, Aly Diouara, MP with the French left-wing party La France Insoumise (LFI), paid tribute to the Algerian combatants of the National Liberation Front (FLN), who took up arms against the French during the decolonisation.
Diouara said that the the Algerian fighters, notably the FLN, “liberated Algeria” from the “French colonial yoke” during Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962).
His remarks on August 17 came at a time where the relationship between Paris and Algiers has soured amid strong diplomatic tensions.
One reply came from lawyer and commentator Gilles-William Goldnadel, who called La France Insoumise “the foreign party” and said, “Aly Diouara celebrates the terrorists who murdered Pieds-Noir civilians and tortured French soldiers.”
Diouara, the elected representative of Seine-Saint-Denis, a migration-heavy district, published several photos taken on his visit, including a fresco in honour of prominent FLN fighters, a movement responsible for numerous abuses against French civilians, who were killed by French paratroopers in 1957.
Algerian news outlet TSA described the fresco as: “A moving place of remembrance in memory of those heroes who refused to abdicate and surrender and to all those who took the weapons or fought, in one way or another, French colonialism to allow Algeria to regain its sovereignty.”
Cet été, il me tenait à cœur de fouler humblement cette terre sur laquelle le sang de tant d’hommes et de femmes a coulé.
Aspirant à la liberté, sous l’emprise du joug colonial français, ils ont libéré l’Algérie et obtenu leur indépendance.
Cet héritage nous oblige.#AliLaPointe pic.twitter.com/VAW2DLdfZN— Aly D (@AlyDiouara) August 17, 2025
Diouara wrote a tribute to the Algerian fighters, stating: “This summer, it was dear to my heart to humbly tread this land where the blood of so many men and women was shed. Aspiring to freedom, under the grip of the French colonial yoke, they liberated Algeria and gained their independence. This legacy binds us.”
He is the third LFI deputy to visit Algeria since 2024, following visits by Rima Hassan and Sebastien Delogu. Additionally, other French parliamentarians, including Green MP Sabrina Sebaihi and Senator Akli Mellouli, have made multiple visits to Algeria in recent months.
These came at a time when Franco-Algerian relations have been experiencing an unprecedented crisis with freedom of expression and political dissent under attack from the Algerian regime.
The FLN, founded in 1954, led a brutal campaign against French colonial rule, employing guerrilla tactics, bombings and terrorism.
The French language does not belong to the French anymore and they should think of renaming it to reflect its “creole nature”, said the country’s radical left-wing de facto leader of La France Insoumise (LFI) Jean-Luc Mélenchon. https://t.co/0mUnW1NMbC
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) June 26, 2025
