Covid-19: Macron calls on the French to be vigilant and to unity

Caution and a warning. Emmanuel Macron on Monday called on the French to be vigilant "in the face of a virus which is accelerating", drawing a parallel with the spirit that led to the liberation of France 76 years ago. He also attacked the anti-racist movement which calls for the removal of statues of personalities associated with slavery.

"Let us each be responsible for all"

“At a time when our country, like many others, is going through an unprecedented crisis, the health crisis requires that we all protect each other, that we are each responsible for all”, declared the Head of State while participating , as every year for three years, at the anniversary ceremony of the liberation of Bormes-les-Mimosas (Var). In this commune is the fort of Brégançon, the property of the State where Emmanuel Macron spends his holidays.

“We will have, in the coming weeks, to continue to face a health crisis which takes a different form; the virus is accelerating again, so a lot of vigilance is needed, ”he added at the end of the ceremony. "We must redouble our attention to vulnerable people (...), but without isolating them", according to him.

Unity, facing the "resumption of the epidemic"

During his address to elected officials and veterans, he highlighted the analogies between the current situation and that which led to the Allied landings in Provence in August 1944 and the victory over the Nazis. He praised in particular this “unity, this ability to act together, to give of one's time” which the fighters of that time but also “the country” have shown since the start of the Covid-19 crisis.

"This is what we will have to continue to take up in the weeks and months to come, given the resumption of the epidemic, faced with economic and social difficulties, faced with the international crises that our country will inevitably have" to face, said he added.

"Do not try to debunk statues"

During his speech, Emmanuel Macron also briefly returned to the memorial controversy that erupted at the beginning of the summer after the death of George Floyd, a black man, during a violent police arrest in the United States. Anti-racist activists then attacked monuments and statues linked to colonial history or to the slave trade.

“Our history is a block,” said the president. “We are still learning, our historians continue to reveal the truth, to better understand, historiography continues on its way. But let's not try to debunk statues and erase names ”. He denounced the principle of "reading our past with the eyes of today, to confuse the fights".

Before insisting on the role played in the Landing in Provence and the liberation of France by the "fighters from both shores of the Mediterranean", by "these soldiers from Africa".

To honor the memory of the Africans who fought for France, I reiterate the appeal I launched to the Mayors: bring life to the heart of our towns and villages, by the name of our streets, our squares, by our monuments, the glorious memory of these heroes.

The president must stay until the end of the week at Fort Brégançon, where he will receive German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday before returning to the Elysee Palace for the start of the school year.