"Memory and justice must be given to the millions of anonymous victims of slavery," Chirac said. (Reuters)

PARIS, May 10, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – France commemorated on Wednesday, May 10, the victims of slavery, more than a century and a half after it stopped the practice of taking tens of thousands of people from Africa for slavery in the Caribbean colonies.

"This first day in memory of slavery and its abolition is an important step for France," President Jacques Chirac told a ceremony marking the day in the Luxembourg Gardens in the center of Paris, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

"Looking our past in the face is one of the keys to our national cohesion," he added.

"Memory and justice must be given to the millions of anonymous victims of slavery," said the French leader.

He added that the country should "look at this past without concession, but also without shame because the republic was born in the fight against slavery."

The Slavery Remembrance Day, Europe's first national day of remembrance for slavery victims, coincides with the fifth anniversary of the passing of a law recognizing slavery as a crime against humanity.

The legislation requires schools to include lessons about slavery in the curriculum.

France was Europe's fourth-largest slave trader after Portugal, England and Spain.

French ships are estimated to have transported more than 1.25 million would-be slaves.

Captured in Africa, they were shipped across the Atlantic to toil on plantations in France's Caribbean colonies.

France ruled over more than one-third of Africa at the height of its empire and is still deeply engaged in several former colonies.

Nationwide

Many events marking the occasion were held nationwide.

A plaque was unveiled on the waterfront in Bordeaux, one of the main cities that had been involved in France's slave trade, outlining the practice.

White flowers were thrown by municipal officials in the city's river in memory of slavery's victims.

Special events showing off contemporary manuscripts and artifacts were also to be held in museums and libraries in Paris.

"It was imperative that slavery be given a place in our collective memory," said Marcel Dorigny, a history professor who helped institute Slavery Remembrance Day.

"French people who are the descendants of slaves have felt marginalised - forgotten by history."

The city of Nantes on the Atlantic coast, where many of France's slave ships originated, was also to hold a moment of silence.

Pioneers

The Pantheon, a neo-classic building in Paris that houses the remains of famous French figures, also provided free entry to the tombs of those who sought to stop slavery.

Chief among them was Victor Schoelcher, a 19th century abolitionist who argued against France's slavery practice in its West Indies islands to produce sugar.

His struggle contributed to a decree issued on April 27, 1848, which abolished slavery in France and its colonies and returned freedom to some 260,000 slaves.

France initially abolished slavery in 1794 after a successful revolt by slaves in the island colony of Saint Domingue, which later became Haiti.

But emperor Napoleon Bonaparte re-established slavery in 1802, and it was not until 1848 that France put a definitive end to slavery.

France's commemoration of slavery's victims followed a bitter row over a law passed last year lauding the "positive role" of the country's colonialism.

That part of the legislation was eventually scrapped by France's constitutional council after protests from former colonies.