October 17, 1961 Massacres: Dark chapter in history of colonial France

ALGIERS — Algeria commemorates on Thursday the National Day of Emigration marking the 63^rd anniversary of the Massacres of October 17, 1961 in Paris–a dark chapter in the history of colonial France that Algeria is determined to neither erase nor allow to fade from memory. Historians regard these events as the most violent state crime in Western Europe in contemporary history.

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Though all the hallmarks of crimes against humanity committed by official France are present, France – which has held legal responsibility for over 60 years – still refuses to recognize the massacres of the “Seine.”

French historian Gilles Manceron, in his book “Three Cover-ups of a Massacre,” said that France hides these crimes behind an “orchestrated silence.”

Successive leaders of the French State have failed to address this issue or tackle that of memory in general, in a responsible and transparent manner and with an objective and sincere reading, as requested by Algeria and as stipulated in “the Algiers Declaration” signed in 2022 by the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron.

Instead, France has chosen a path of provocative statements and a policy of evasion, according to French academic Olivier Le Cour Grandmaison.

During his last meeting with media outlets, the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, said that the Joint Commission in charge of memory files, “played its role at the beginning, but its work was impacted by political statements from a French minority hostile to Algeria.”

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune reiterated “Algeria's unwavering position demanding historical truth and recognition of the massacres committed by the French occupation,” affirming that Algeria “will not accept lies.”

He further noted that “the quote of the late president Houari Boumediene +Turning the page without tearing it+ still holds true.”

Last March, the lower chamber of the French Parliament adopted a proposed resolution condemning the bloody and criminal repression committed against Algerians under the orders of the police prefect, Maurice Papon on October 17, 1961 in Paris and proposing the inscription of a day of commemoration of these massacres.

This resolution was later amended, however, to prevent France from any legal responsibility. Following this, the upper chamber of Parliament registered a right-wing proposal that brought up alleged “massacres” against the French and Europeans in Algiers and Oran in 1962.

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