After commemorating May 8, 1945 in Paris, on the almost empty Champs-Élysées, Emmanuel Macron went to Lyon on Monday afternoon. The President of the Republic paid tribute to the resistance fighters of the Second World War and ” to the victims of Nazi barbarism “. Expected by thousands of demonstrators, a security perimeter had been established.
On the occasion of May 8, date of German surrender, the president visited the former prison of Montluc, where Jean Moulin and other resistance fighters were detained. The Head of State laid a wreath at the Montluc Prison Memorial in which nearly 10,000 people were imprisoned during the Occupation. More than a thousand of them were shot and 6,000 deported. Claude Bloch, 94 years old and the last survivor of Auschwitz living in Lyon, wanted to send a message to the younger generation. ” I tell them: it happened, it can happen again, it even happens in some countries of the world “.
The Head of State also visited the cell of Jean Moulin, arrested in Caluire, near Lyon, by the local head of the Gestapo, Klaus Barbie. Horribly tortured, he remained silent and died of wounds inflicted on July 8, 1943, on the train taking him to Germany.
” The French Republic is by definition neither good nor bad. It is necessary, vital, just “, declared Emmanuel Macron, saluting the memory of Jean Moulin, “ the child of the republic », « the soldier of France “.
The president highlighted the mission of the former prefect – “ unite the rights and the lefts and recalled, ” the essential political role of Jean Moulin which allowed the unification of the resistance and the emergence of a free France.
This speech sounded like an echo of the current political situation for a president who gives the impression of an isolated and cut off leader, with commemorations under high security.
Very framed commemorations
Earlier in the morning, the commemorations on the Champs-Élysées were also very supervised by the police. The Head of State, escorted by the Republican Guard, went up, by car, an almost empty avenuebefore meditating at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, rekindling the flame and shaking a few hands in the official gallery.
In Lyon, any gathering was prohibited in a large perimeter around the Montluc prison. Several hundred meters from the demonstrators, Emmanuel Macron made his visit without incident. About 3,000 people demonstrated on the edge of the prohibited zone, according to the prefecture – 5,000 according to the CGT, some banging on saucepans.
The windows of the door of the town hall of the 3rd arrondissement of Lyon were broken, car windows smashed and CRS repeatedly used tear gas. A meeting planned between Grégory Doucet, mayor of Lyon, and the President of the Republic, has also been canceled due to damage, but also to schedule constraints, according to the Élysée.
” We would have liked there to be a few more people “Launched the Head of State, Thomas Dossus, environmental senator from the Rhône and the Metropolis of Lyon. ” I think civic spirit would benefit from being widely disseminated […]. Mistakes are never good “replied Emmanuel Macron.
“ The children of Izieu and the millions who died in the Second World War deserve silence and respect. Not indignity. There is a time for everything “, tweeted the Keeper of the Seals Éric Dupond-Moretti, present at the ceremony, the President (LR) of the Senate Gérard Larcher judging such gatherings “ unacceptable on this day of memory.
Jean Moulin, the children of Izieu and the millions of dead of the Second World War deserve silence and respect. Not indignity. There is a time for everything.
Karl Marx himself wrote that he who does not know history is condemned to relive it.— Eric Dupond-Moretti (@E_DupondM) May 8, 2023
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(And with AFP)