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Paris France – Sixty years ago, French police arrested, killed and drowned Algerians in Paris. A few months before the end of the Algerian war, they peacefully demonstrated against the curfew.
The archives estimated that between 100 and 300 people were killed, but there is no exact figure.
The historian Fabrice Resputi said that this was because of a “colonial massacre” in central Paris on October 17, 1961. “A characteristic of all colonial massacres in history is the inability to make precise assessments,” he told Al Jazeera.
Historians generally believe that this is the most violent suppression of protests in Western Europe after the war, but many people in France still refuse to face it.
But today, against the backdrop of growing social movements calling for racial justice and ending police brutality, France is facing increasing pressure to deal with its violent past.
In 2012, then President Francois Hollande admitted that there was a “bloody suppression” in 1961, but historians say that the government has not taken concrete action and information about the incident continues to be suppressed.
“Since the 1990s, many groups have asked the head of state of the French Republic, the President, to officially admit that this is not a regrettable mistake but a national crime,” said Lesputy. “This is our expectation of the President [Emmanuel] Macron’s 60th anniversary. “
‘The most painful event’
On October 17, 1961, the Algerian National Liberation Front gathered Algerians in Paris to organize a parade. Despite the curfew, thousands of people have turned to call for Algeria’s independence.
The violent suppression ordered by the then Paris police chief Maurice Papon was unparalleled.
“Maurice Papen studied these tactics in Constantine, Algeria for a few years, and then he brought them to Paris,” Rasputi said of the infamous Papen, who had been involved in a relationship with the Nazis in 1998. The regime was convicted of conspiracy.
For Algerians in France, memory exists in collective memory.
“In any case, for me, this is perhaps the most painful event of the entire colonial period,” Malika Rahal, an Algerian American historian who grew up in France, told Al Jazeera. “It will not question your relationship with Algeria, but it does question your relationship with France every day.”
From censoring newspapers to preventing Algerians from filing lawsuits, researchers say that decades of efforts by the French government to hide information have been institutionalized.
“This is part of the crime,” Riceputi said. “It was implemented and immediately denied, and the government made every effort to impose silence and cover up the incident.”
Rahal said that when she was studying history in Paris in the 1990s, many of her colleagues at the time were unaware of the Paris Massacre. She heard about it for the first time through her family in Algeria, but it was so painful for her father that he never opened his heart to talk about what happened.
Even foreign historians say that it is difficult for them to obtain certain documents.
Amit Prakash, an American professor who wrote about the decolonization of France, said that when he arrived in Paris to study the archives, he was often “blocked”.
“They gave me a lot of access, but they said that on October 17, the documents I did request were not within the scope of this question,” he said.
Lesputy said that this topic is still a taboo because it will once again raise questions about the public image and values of France.
“This means that we finally accepted that the French Republic is not a perfect entity. It is the heir to the Enlightenment and the Declaration of Human Rights, but it is also the heir to this sinful colonial history.”
Macron tensions
Macron is facing increasing pressure to take advantage of the 60th anniversary violent events. Analysts say this task is no easy task.
The question of Algeria continues to be divided in France. In the past, right-wing politicians refused to discuss this issue, and far-right people were nostalgic for the French colonial period.
As Macron prepares for the 2022 election, The rise of the extreme right In opinion polls, experts believe that if the French president makes comments, he is unlikely to undermine the status quo.
At the same time, Macron is dealing with tense diplomatic relations with Algeria.
In late September, France stated that it would significantly reduce the number of visas issued to Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia because they refused to accept irregular immigrants.
But what really angered Algiers was Macron’s handling of French colonial history. On September 30th, the French President invited several young Algerians of Asian descent to the Elysee Palace to discuss the Algerian War.
According to Le Monde, Macron asked them: “Is there an Algerian state before the French colonization?”
For Arthur Asseraf, a historian and lecturer at the University of Cambridge, Macron tried to provoke, but the move was actually “the oldest trick in the book”—used to justify colonization.
According to observers such as Lahal, France’s long-term occupation of Algeria-for 132 years-means that in the end, even if Macron admits that France was involved in the Paris Massacre, “Algiers will never say thank you… …Because the two countries are in terms of value. Algeria is absolutely anti-colonial, while France has never adopted an anti-colonial attitude.”
Macron is expected to become the first French president to attend an official ceremony to commemorate the Holocaust. Although Al Jazeera has repeatedly contacted the Elysee Palace, it was unable to discuss more details.
A commemorative parade organized by 120 trade unions and organizations will be held in Paris.
Activists called on the French government to establish an official memorial website, open all archives, include the incident in school curricula, and provide compensation to the descendants of the victims.
“This is an event that may never have been as popular as today,” Riceputi said. “Because this is about police violence. We have been in France for a few years and we have known what it is. This is also a systemic racism problem, and we also know the situation in France… so it has gathered a lot of people.”
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