Overview
- City officials have scheduled the ceremony for August 23 at Parc Beaurivage, aligning it with Europe’s day of remembrance for victims of totalitarian regimes.
- Mayor Frédéric Masquelier of Les Républicains, known for high-profile commemorations, frames the memorial as honoring “forgotten” victims and as a first of its kind in France.
- Local representatives of the French Communist Party condemn the project as “rocambolesque et désastreux.”
- PCF senator Ian Brossat, writing in L’Humanité, argues the initiative seeks to obscure the far right’s collaborationist past and to silence criticism of capitalism.
- Right-leaning outlet Contrepoints defends the monument, accuses the PCF of minimizing communist crimes, and calls the move a necessary break with a memorial taboo.