Zaatcha battle or the "beheaded" insurrection

The national seminar on the "Zaatcha epic," organized recently in Biskra (425 km southwest of Algiers), has wrapped up with a surprising request, as the participants have demanded from France the "restitution of the skulls of three resistance heroes," beheaded during the revolt of Zaatcha, 160 years ago, and whose heads would have been transferred to Paris during that period.

• Undoubtedly legitimate and highly important on the symbolic level, the request underlined the savagery with which French occupation forces suppressed the resistance of the Ziban's inhabitants during the colonial invasion, and more particularly the oasis of Zaatcha, in the country's southeast.
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• Ennaharonline/aps