France remembers Paris massacre amid tensions with Algeria

Pressure mounts on France to recognise the 1961 Paris massacre of Algerians as a ‘state crime’.

Paris, France – Sixty years ago, Algerians in Paris were arrested, killed, and drowned in the Seine by French police. They were peacefully demonstrating against a curfew on them months before the end of the Algerian war.

Archives estimate that between 100 and 300 people were killed, but there is no exact figure.

Historian Fabrice Riceputi says this is because what happened on October 17, 1961, in central Paris was a “colonial massacre”. “One of the characteristics of all colonial massacres in history is that it is impossible to make precise assessments,” he told Al Jazeera.