“Sixty years ago, Algerians in Paris were arrested, killed, and drowned in the Seine by French police [and mob]. They were peacefully demonstrating against a curfew on them months before the end of the Algerian war.”
“Archives estimate that between 100 and 300 people were killed, but there is no exact figure.”
“Widely regarded by historians as the most violent repression of a protest in post-war Western Europe, many in France still refuse to confront it.”
“But today, in the context of growing social movements that call for racial justice and an end to police brutality, there is mounting pressure for France to confront its violent past.”
“In 2012, then-President Francois Hollande recognised the “bloody repression” in 1961, but historians say the government has not taken concrete action and that information about the event continues to be suppressed.”
““What has been demanded since the 1990s, and requested by many groups, is that the head of the French Republic, so the president, officially recognises that this was not a regrettable mistake, but a state crime,” [Historian Fabrice Riceputi] said. “This is what we expect from President [Emmanuel] Macron for the 60th anniversary.””
“On October 17, 1961, Algerians in Paris were called to organised a march by the Algerian National Liberation Front. Thousands turned to call for an independent Algeria, despite an imposed curfew.”
“The violent repression ordered by the then-Paris Prefect of police, Maurice Papon, was unparalleled.”
““Maurice Papon learned to apply these methods of terror in Constantine in Algeria for several years, and he imported them to Paris,” Riceputi said about the infamous Papon, convicted in 1998 for complicity with the Nazi regime.”
“For Algerians in France, the memory lives on in collective memory.”
“From censoring newspapers to preventing trials from charges filed by Algerians, researchers said the French state’s decades-long effort to hide information was institutionalised.”
““That’s part of the crime,” said Riceputi. “It was committed and immediately denied, and the government did everything to impose silence, to cover up the event.””
“Riceputi said the subject remains a taboo because it would trigger a questioning of France’s public image and values once again.”
““It would mean that we finally accept to learn that the French Republic is not a perfect entity by definition. It is the heir of the Enlightenment, of the Declaration of Human Rights, but it is also the heir of this criminal colonial past.””
“The issue of Algeria continues to divide in France. Right-wing politicians have in the past refused to discuss it, and far-right figures are nostalgic about France’s colonial period.”
“With Macron preparing for the 2022 election and the far-right rising in the polls, experts believe that if the French president were to comment, it is unlikely he would upset the status quo.”
“At the same time, Macron is navigating tense diplomatic relations with Algeria.”
“In late September, France said it would drastically cut the number of visas it grants to Algeria – as well as Morocco and Tunisia – for refusing to take back irregular migrants.”
“But what has really provoked the ire of Algiers is Macron’s manner of addressing France’s colonial past.”
According to observers “France’s long occupation of Algeria – for 132 years – means that ultimately, even if Macron recognises France’s complicity in the Paris massacre, “Algiers is never going to say thanks … because the two countries are very much at odds in terms of value. Algeria is absolutely anticolonial and France never took the anticolonial turn.””
“Macron is expected to become the first French president to attend an official ceremony commemorating the massacre, although the Elysee, contacted several times by Al Jazeera, was unable to discuss further details.”
“A commemorative march will be held in Paris, organised by 120 trade unions and organisations.”
“And activists are calling on the French state to create an official site of remembrance, open all archives, include this event in the school curriculum, and give reparations to the victims’ descendants.”
Read more: France remembers Paris massacre amid tensions with Algeria
Related: A massacre of Algerians in the heart of Paris
2021-week41
