[R-G] October 17, 1961 - when peaceful demonstrators were massacred in Paris -- Left Bank (Vancouver)

[shniad at sfu.ca]

Left Bank (Vancouver)					  October 29, 2001

October 17, 1961 - when peaceful demonstrators were massacred in Paris

     By Adrian Dix

The French-Algerian War that ended in March 1962 with the independence of
Algeria was a savage period in the history of European colonialism. Two
weeks ago, the Paris municipal government officially recognized a brutal
incident of that history, the October 17, 1961 massacre of peaceful
demonstrators by French police authorities.

On October 17, 1961 tens of thousands of Algerians, at the time citizens of
France, converged on Paris to demonstrate peacefully against a curfew
imposed specifically on "francais musulmans d'Algerie" by the prefect of
police. The police responded to this "illegal" demonstration by detaining
11,000 people and murdering (estimates vary widely) 75 to 200 Algerians.
Dozens of victims were knocked unconscious and thrown into the Seine from
the St. Michel Bridge in the center of Paris to drown.

The Paris Prefect of Police in 1961 was Maurice Papon. In 1998, Papon was
convicted for his role as a Vichy official in the deportation of 1560 Jews
in the Bordeaux area of France during the Second World War. His post-war
career in the Fourth and Fifth Republics made him one of France's leading
law enforcement officials and a close confidant of Presidents. President
Giscard d'Estaing named him to a senior cabinet position in 1978. His
activities during the war were only revealed in the 1990s and his subsequent
trial at the age of 87 was a political and media sensation. 

Neither Mr. Papon, nor any other police officer was held accountable for the
events of October 1961 however. The attack on the demonstrators had the air
of pre-meditation. Mr. Papon had said in a speech at the funeral of a police
officer killed by the Algerian FLN just days before the October 17th
demonstration, "Pour un coup rendu, nous en porterons 10." ("For every blow,
we will respond with 10.") 

The incidents of October 17 were successfully covered up for decades by the
authorities. Papon, with support at the highest levels of the French
government, shut down any investigation of the events. The media was banned
from reporting on them. Books and articles were suppressed. The official
account acknowledged only 6 killings "in self-defense". Police who objected
were subject to beatings and other intimidations. 

It took a significant campaign of French journalists and some courageous
testimony from former police officers in the 1980s and 1990s before the
truth of the massacre saw the light of day in France. It was 1981 when the
controversy was first mentioned on French television. In the 1990s, a series
of books and photographs were published drawing significant public attention
for the first time and clearly undermining the official account of the
events of October 17th. Ironically, it was Mr. Papon himself by suing (from
his prison cell) Jean-Louis Einaudi author of one of the most significant
books on the events, who brought the most attention to the issue. Mr. Papon
lost his suit and the French government subsequently began to give access to
previously secret police files depicting the extent of the official
cover-up.

Two weeks ago, on October 17, 2001 the 40th anniversary of the massacre, the
new Socialist Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe presided over the unveiling of
a plaque on the Saint Michel Bridge commemorating the incidents. At the
place where 40 years ago, bodies were dumped into the Seine River, a plaque
now reads: "To the memory of Algerian victims of a peaceful demonstration."
Even this simple plaque was the subject of widespread controversy. Police
unions protested the ceremony and the Conservative Opposition on the Paris
City Council opposed the Mayor's decision and boycotted the ceremony. They
called the recognition an insult to the French police officers who
themselves lost their lives in the long civil war. And they argued, in light
of the events of September 11, it was the wrong time to be raising old
disputes and painful memories. 

French governments and society have taken some painful first steps in the
last decade to come to terms with some of the most painful moments in French
history - particularly the Vichy period and the impact of French colonial
wars and policies. The scars of the French-Algerian civil war on all sides
are still deep. By finally recognizing this brutal moment in history, the
Paris municipal government took a necessary step in promoting understanding
in contemporary France.

The Paris Mayor was also right in proceeding with this ceremony now. It is
important to be reminded in a time when public security laws in Western
countries are being tightened, when intelligence and police agencies are
receiving more money and power and when public tolerance is being tested,
what can happen, even in a liberal democracy, when civil rights are no
longer respected.