Thread by @NabilaRamdani

After a peaceful pro-#independence demonstration in #Paris on #17October1961,up to 300 #Algerians were murdered by police. Historians described this #massacre as “the bloodiest act of state repression of street protest in western Europe in modern history”.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

The most memorable – and vicious – #atrocities saw #policemen herding panicking crowds on to #Paris's bridges, where many were tossed into the #Seine. The river became a watery morgue for scores of victims, whose lifeless bodies were washing up for weeks. #17Octobre1961 #Algeria

Others died in #police stations, or in nearby woods, where their #mutilated bodies testified to truncheon and rifle-butt injuries. The officers had been incensed by an illegal protest by 30,000 men, women and children organised by the National #Liberation Front (FLN) of #Algeria.

Maurice #Papon, the Paris #police chief who instigated the #killings, remained unpunished. Like him, many of his henchmen had been Nazi #collaborators who learned their crowd control methods from the #Gestapo. They were experts at disinformation too: official death toll was three

Maurice #Papon was finally brought to justice for #crimes against humanity – but only for those he committed during the #SecondWorldWar. President Charles de Gaulle, and then successive governments, ensured he was never indicted for what he did to the French #Algerians of Paris.