Algeria/France: Call on France to reckon its war crimes makes quantitative and qualitative move

Ten Thousand signatures have already been collected so far after a call on France to reckon its war crimes perpetrated against Algerians civilians in Paris on October 17th 1961. The call was launched by the ‘’In the name of memory’’ association on the “Mediapart”, news website.October 17th 1961, 20,000 to 30,000 Algerians took to the streets of Paris after FLN party called for demonstrations against the French presence in Algeria. Algerians headed for “Place de l'Etoile” in Paris also protested against the curfew imposed by Paris Police Prefecture then under the leadership of Maurice Papon who gave orders to his police to end the demonstrations by any means. The intentional character of the 17th October 1961 Paris Massacre has been demonstrated by historian Jean-Luc Einaudi, who won a trial against Maurice Papon in 1999 — the latter was convicted in 1998 on charges of crimes against humanity for his role under the Vichy collaborationist regime during World War II. Official documentation and eyewitnesses within the Paris police department indeed suggest that the massacre was directed by Maurice Papon. Police records show that Papon called for officers in one station to be 'subversive' in quelling the demonstrations, and assured them protection from prosecution if they participated. Many demonstrators died when they were violently herded by police into the River Seine, with some thrown from bridges after being beaten unconscious. Other demonstrators were killed within the courtyard of the Paris police headquarters after being arrested and delivered there in police buses. Officers who participated in the courtyard killings took the precaution of removing identification numbers from their uniforms, while senior officers ignored pleas by other policemen who were shocked when witnessing the brutality. Silence about the events within the police headquarters was further enforced by threats of reprisals from participating officers.Forty years later, Bertrand Delanoë, member of the Socialist Party (PS) and Mayor of Paris, put a plaque in remembrance of the massacre on the Saint-Michel bridge on 17 October 2001.[3][4] How many demonstrators were killed is still unclear, but estimates range from 70 to 200 people. In the absence of official estimates, the placard which commemorates the massacre stated: “In memory of the many Algerians killed during the bloody repression of the peaceful demonstration of 17 October 1961”. On 18 February 2007 (the day after Papon's death), calls were made for a Paris Métro station under construction in Gennevilliers to be named “17 Octobre 1961” in commemoration of the massacre.[5][6]The recognition of the massacres of October 17, 1961, is an opening of a new page of peace between the two Algeria and France, according to the text of the call, which also tends towards the reconstruction of a new brotherhood between the two sides of the Mediterranean. The call on Wednesday has already been signed by hundreds of personalities, including historian Benjamin Stora, Ambassador and author of “Indigez-vous,” Stéphane Hessel, Algerian writer Azouz Beggag, resistant Raymond Aubrac, anthropologist Dounia Bouzar, philosopher Régis Debray and the former minister Michel Rocard.