Historians and activists in France have expressed disappointment that President Emmanuel Macron did not go further in his condemnation of the deadly crackdown in 1961 by Paris police on protest by Algerians, the scale of which was covered up for decades.
The president “recognised the facts: that the crimes committed that night under [Paris police prefect] Maurice Papon are inexcusable for the Republic,” said a statement from the Elysée Palace.
“It’s not enough”, lamented Rahim Rezigat, 81, former member of the France federation of the National Liberation Front (FLN).
Macron “is playing with words, for the sake of his electorate, which includes those who are nostalgic for French Algeria”, said Rezigat, who attended an event organised in Paris on Saturday by the anti-racism NGO SOS Racisme, bringing together activists and youths from the Ile-de-France region to commemorate that deadly night.
>> Webdoc – October 17, 1961: A massacre of Algerians in the heart of Paris
On October 17, 1961, some 30,000 Algerians demonstrated peacefully at the call of the FLN resistance movement in response to a strict 8:30pm curfew imposed on Algerians in Paris and its suburbs.
Ten thousand police and gendarmes were deployed ahead of the demonstration. The repression was bloody, with several demonstrators shot dead, some of whose bodies were thrown into the River Seine. Historians estimate that at least several dozen and up to 200 people were killed, but the official toll is three dead and 11,000 wounded.
1961 massacre of Algerians: ‘These events have become a symbol of institutional discrimination’
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Source : france24
