Macron decries ‘inexcusable’ Algerian protest massacre in Paris

France’s president told relatives, activists on the 60th anniversary of the 1961 protest in Paris by Algerians that ‘crimes’ were committed.

President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday condemned as “inexcusable” a deadly crackdown by Paris police on a 1961 protest by Algerians, the scale of which was covered up for decades by French authorities.

Macron told relatives and activists on the 60th anniversary of the bloodshed that “crimes” were committed on the night of October 17, 1961, under the command of the notorious Paris police chief Maurice Papon.

He acknowledged several dozen protesters were killed, “their bodies thrown into the River Seine” and paid tribute to the memory of the victims.