Algeria commemorates independence massacre by French police
Algeria is marking the 63rd anniversary of a deadly crackdown by French police on Algerians holding rallies in Paris to demand their country’s independence from France.
Dozens of peaceful demonstrators were killed in the massacre whose scale was covered up for decades by French authorities.
In 2021, President Emmanuel Macron condemned it as “inexcusable”, but failed to offer an apology or reparation.
In a message on Wednesday ahead of the 63rd anniversary, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said the day “remains deeply engraved in our minds”.
He described the killings as “moments of madness devoid of all civility and humanity”.
“On this occasion, I bow with piety and deference to the memory of the victims of that sinister day,” he said.
Death toll unclear
On the night of October 17, 1961, and over the next few days, Algerian demonstrators were beaten, killed or thrown into the River Seine, where they drowned.
The precise number of victims has never been made clear. In 1998, the French government said 40 people were killed.
However, historians and activists believe hundreds of Algerians were killed in the brutal police crackdown.
The protests were called in the final year of France’s violent attempt to retain Algeria as a North African colony.
In March 2024, the French parliament’s lower house approved a resolution condemning the killings as “bloody and murderous repression”.
Campaigners continue to condemn France for refusing to ”apologise or repent” for the massacre and its 132-year brutal colonial rule in Algeria, which ended in 1962.
