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Caught on camera: Crowd shouts 'Long live Algeria' during Macron's visit

The visiting French President could be seen waving at onlookers in Algeria's Oran city even as the slogan-shouting group continued with its protest.

AFP

Macron's trip follows months of tensions between Paris and the North African country, which earlier this year marked six decades of independence following 132 years of French rule.

A crowd has shouted slogans hailing Algeria during a visit by France's Emmanuel Macron to a city in the former French colony.

A video of the incident shows a group of people shouting "long live Algeria" while the French President — surrounded by security personnel — was on a crowded street in the northwestern city of Oran.

Macron could be seen waving at onlookers even as the slogan-shouting group continued with its protest. Macron then got into his car parked on the roadside.

He was on a three-day trip to the North African country that ended on Saturday.

The visit came less than two months after Algeria marked six decades of independence following 132 years of French rule and a devastating eight-year war.

Ties between Paris and Algiers have seen repeated crises over the years.

They had been particularly frosty since last year when Macron questioned Algeria's existence as a nation before the French occupation and accused the government of fomenting "hatred towards France".

Algeria withdrew its ambassador in response and banned French military aircraft from its airspace.

Diplomatic relations have since resumed, along with overflights to French army bases in sub-Saharan Africa.

French President Emmanuel Macron was met by protests while visiting Oran, Algeria.

Crowds chanted "Long live Algeria" at Macron as his bodyguards rushed to get him into the vehicle.

According to the French press, Macron cut his visit short and left the city pic.twitter.com/SCFpimPEtL
— TRT World (@trtworld) August 27, 2022

'History can't be written with lies'

On Saturday, France and Algeria signed a declaration for "renewed partnership" at the end of Macron's visit.

Macron and Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune signed the declaration in the capital Algiers for a "new, irreversible dynamic of progress" in relations between the two countries, state news agency APS reported.

The two leaders also signed five other agreements pertaining to different fields.

But the French President's visit was not universally welcomed by Algerians.

"History can't be written with lies...like the one that Algeria was created by France," read an editorial in the French-language Le Soir newspaper.

"We expected Macron to erase this gross untruth during this visit," it said, criticising him for a "lack of courage...to recognise his own faults and those of his country".

SOURCE: TRTWorld and agencies