“The crimes that were committed that night (…) are unforgivable for the republic,” said a letter from the Elysée Palace on Saturday. France recognized its clear responsibility. Macron had previously attended a memorial event in Colombes near Paris. According to Élysée, he is the first President to attend such a commemoration.
Towards the end of the Algerian War, in which the then French colony of Algeria fought for independence from 1954 to 1962, France imposed a curfew on the so-called Muslim French from Algeria. On October 17, 1961, they called for a boycott, which was systematically suppressed. The police arrested around 12,000 Algerians, beat several to death and shot others. Some bodies were later found in the Seine. The exact number of victims is still unknown. Estimates sometimes assume around 200. The Paris Museum for the History of Immigration speaks of the deadliest repression in Western Europe after 1945. As early as 2012, the then President François Hollande recognized the crime.
Macron’s words about the massacre 60 years ago met with a mixed response. While the move was viewed as historical on the one hand, calls were made to go further and to recognize the events of October 17, 1961 as a state crime.
The memorial event in Colombes took place at the foot of the Pont de Bezons. Numerous Algerians set out from Colombes to boycott demonstrations in 1961, according to the Élysée. Accordingly, several corpses were later recovered from the Seine here. In the presence of relatives of the victims and those involved, Macron observed a minute’s silence. A wreath was also laid in memory. Relatives threw white roses into the Seine. With Didier Lallement, a police prefect laid a wreath in memory of the victims for the first time on Sunday, according to the Paris police.