October 17, 1961: Emmanuel Macron denounces "inexcusable crimes for the Republic"
French President Emmanuel Macron, during the ceremony in tribute to the victims of the massacre of October 17, 1961, October 16, 2021 near the Pont de Bezons in Colombes, in the Paris region.
© Rafael Yaghobzadeh, AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday, October 16 denounced "
crimes inexcusable for the Republic
", at the end of an official ceremony for the 60th anniversary of the massacre of Algerians committed on October 17, 1961. It is about a first.
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The Head of State "
recognized the facts
: the crimes committed that night under the authority of Maurice Papon are inexcusable for the Republic
", indicates a statement from the Elysee, referring to the one who was at the time of the facts Paris prefect of police.
This
press
release was released just after
a ceremony in the presence of Emmanuel Macron
on the banks of the Seine, near the Bezons bridge, borrowed 60 years ago by Algerian demonstrators who arrived from the neighboring slum of Nanterre in Paris. appeal from the branch of the National Liberation Front (FLN) based in France.
This is the first time that a French president has visited the scene of the massacre.
The number of deaths of the latter is estimated by historians at at least several dozen, the official toll counting only three.
By evoking "
crimes
", Emmanuel Macron, who observed a minute of silence and laid a wreath on the banks of the Seine, thus went further than the recognition of the
"
bloody repression
" by his predecessor François Hollande, in 2012
.
“
France looks at its entire history with lucidity and recognizes the clearly established responsibilities.
She owes it first and foremost to herself, to all those whom the Algerian war and its procession of crimes committed on all sides have bruised in their flesh and in their soul
", adds the official press release of the Elysee.
Ceremony where "
bodies were recovered
"
Emmanuel Macron, the first French president born after the Algerian War ended in 1962, spoke on the spot with relatives of the victims, some of whom were in tears.
"
Live ammunition was fired at this location and bodies were recovered from the Seine,
" recalled the Elysee the day before the ceremony, to explain the choice of this place of commemoration.
According to the Élysée, the Head of State "
pays tribute to the memory of all the victims
" of a "
tragedy long killed, denied or hidden
".
On October 17, 1961, while a demonstration was organized in Paris to protest against the ban on Algerians leaving their homes after 8:30 p.m. (6.30 p.m. UT), a repression - "
brutal, violent, bloody
", according to the Élysée - descended on the demonstrators.
“
Nearly
12,000 Algerians were arrested and transferred to sorting centers at the Coubertin stadium, the Palais des sports and other places.
In addition to many wounded, several dozen were killed, their bodies thrown into the Seine.
Many families have never found the remains of their loved ones, who disappeared that night
, ”the French presidency recalled on Saturday.
(With AFP)
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To read and listen also:
Large report on the massacre of October 17, 1961: will there be recognition of a state crime in the middle of Paris?
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