In an interview with Agence France-Presse, Algerian Rabah Sahili (79 years old) recounts horrific details of the bloody French repression of the Algerian demonstrations in Paris in 1961, of which he was one of the participants.

"The brutality of the police and gendarmes was appalling," Sahili asserts. In this interview, the man sadly recounts his memories of the day when dozens of Algerians were killed.

Sixty years ago, more than 30,000 Algerians were demonstrating peacefully at the call of the FLN branch in France to denounce the curfew imposed on "French Muslims" (Algerians) exclusively by Paris police chief Maurice Papon.

On the other hand, 10,000 policemen and gendarmes were deployed.

The repression was bloody;

Many protesters were shot dead and some bodies were thrown into the Seine.

Historians estimate the number of dead as a result of the repression at at least tens, and some estimate it as 200, while the official toll does not speak of more than 3 dead and 11,000 wounded.

Yesterday, Saturday, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced that he would "observe a minute of silence every year, across the entire national territory, starting from Sunday (today) at 11 am, in honor of the souls of the martyrs of the massacres of October 17, 1961 in Paris."

For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron condemned what he described as "unjustifiable crimes", during an official ceremony to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the events.

The French presidency said Macron "has acknowledged the facts. The crimes that were committed that night under the authority of Maurice Papon (the Paris police chief at the time) cannot be justified."

Rabah Sahili - who had arrived in Paris 4 years ago - was arrested from Aumon (north), where his parents settled in 1950 when they arrived from Algeria, at the entrance to the metro station in Nejmeh Square in Paris.

He had just turned 19 years old.

He recounts, "We had to meet in Najma Square to start our peaceful demonstration with one thing: that militants should not carry any sharp tools."

arrests

This large square (the Place de la Etoile) was chosen by the FLN as a gathering point for immigrants from the suburbs, where the working class in western Paris lived, such as Gonville, Asnier and Nattier.

Demonstrations were planned elsewhere in the French capital.

"I was with one of my relatives when the police attacked us. He tried to protect me as he was stronger than me, but he received a torrent of blows with the butts of pistols and batons, which broke his leg," Sahili said.

He added, "All Algerians leaving the metro station were arrested. They were arrests based on traits," explaining that "Italians, Spaniards and South Americans" were arrested, referring to the instructions given to the gendarmes and police to attack the French Muslims, which is what the colonial authorities used to call the Algerians.

He added that they were all taken "under the blows of batons" to a car park near Nejmeh Square.

"We are falling under the hail of blows from the butts of pistols on the heads. The blows were brutal, nothing more, nothing less," said Rabah Sahili.

"The parking lot was crowded. In the middle of the night we were taken by bus to the Sports Palace, where we stayed for 3 days under the watch of the police and two Algerians in the French army," he said.

He stressed that during these days of terror, the 9,000 detainees at the Sports Palace received only a "snack and a bottle of water", before the police transferred them to the "sorting center in Vannes", according to Sahili.

"Bitterly cold"

"This camp was devoid of all amenities; no beds, no toilets. We slept on the floor in the bitter cold," Rabah Sahili said in his testimony, explaining, "I stayed there for two weeks before I was allowed to go home."

"During the arrests, I saw about 20 people bleeding on the ground near Nejmeh Square. The number of policemen was very large and they acted like ferocious beasts," he said.

"The police threw Algerians - some alive - into the Seine, but we won't know the exact number of bodies this river swallowed," said this former member of the FLN networks responsible for collecting donations from migrants.

He noted that even before October 17, a large number of Algerian militants had died "in the waters of the Seine" during police campaigns.

The man states that he participated in "rescuing a young activist at the last minute after the police threw him into the Seine River near the power plant in Port Gonville.

He added that the young man was considered dead because "he had suffered many injuries when we managed to get him out", but he survived because he was young and strong.

After independence in 1962, Rabah Sahili stayed in France for two years before returning to his country, where he worked with Air Algerie.