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Marking a new low in diplomatic relations, Algeria's parliament has unanimously passed a contentious law criminalizing France's colonization of the North African state and demanding both an apology and reparations. The legislation, which also outlaws the glorification of colonialism according to state TV, comes as observers suggest ties between the two nations are at their most strained point in 63 years since Algerian independence.
France's colonialisation of Algeria between 1830 and 1962 was marked by mass killings, large-scale deportations and ended in a bloody war of independence. Algeria says the war killed 1.5 million people, while French historians put the death toll much lower.
France's President Emmanuel Macron has previously acknowledged the colonisation of Algeria was a "crime against humanity" but has not offered an apology.
Lawmakers wore scarves in the colours of the national flag and chanted "long live Algeria" as they applauded the bill's passage through parliament.
It says the legislation states that France has "legal responsibility" for the "tragedies it caused", and "full and fair" compensation was an "inalienable right of the Algerian state and people".
It comes at a time of growing pressure on Western powers to offer reparations for slavery and colonialism, and to return looted artefacts still kept in their museums.
Algerian lawmakers have been demanding that France return a 16th Century bronze canon, known as Baba Merzoug, meaning "Blessed Father", that was regarded as the protector of Algiers, now Algeria's capital. French forces captured the city in 1830, on their third attempt, and removed the cannon - which is m in the port city of Brest in north-western France. KIn 2020, France returned the remains of 24 Algerian fighters who were killed resisting French colonial forces in the 19th Century.
Last month, Algeria hosted a conference of African states to push for justice and reparations.
Algeria's Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf said that a legal framework would ensure that restitution was neither regarded as "a gift nor a favour".
Diplomatic relations between Algeria and France soured last year, when Macron announced France was recognising Moroccan sovereignty of Western Sahara and backed a plan for limited autonomy for the disputed territory.
Algeria backs the pro-independence Polisario Front in Western Sahara and is seen as its main ally.
