Macron condemns the bloody action of the Paris police during the Algerian protests in 1961 | Abroad

Macron condemned the “unforgivable crimes” at an official ceremony on Saturday. He went further than the “bloody repression” admitted by former President François Hollande in 2012. The head of state participated in a tribute to the victims of the Seine on Saturday, without ever seeing a French president. The tribute took place near the “Pont des Basons” bridge, where 30,000 Algerian protesters arrived sixty years ago. They wanted to demonstrate in the French capital, where a curfew was imposed on Algerians after 8:30 pm.

That night, the protesters faced a “brutal, violent and bloody” repression, according to the Elysee. “Nearly 12,000 Algerians were arrested and taken to triage centers in the Coubertin stadium, the Palais des Sports and other places. In addition to the many wounded, dozens were killed and their bodies thrown into the Seine. Many families never recovered. They found their bodies,” the French presidency said. I loved them.” Historians estimate the death toll in the massacre to be at least a few dozen, but the official tally is no more than three.

Hollande denounced the bloody crackdown in 2012, but his successor went further on Saturday. “Macron admitted the facts: the crimes committed that night under the authority of Maurice Papon are unforgivable for the republic,” a press release from the Elysée read. Papon was then the Paris police chief. During World War II, he was still a police chief from Bordeaux and deported Jews there.

The press release issued by the French presidency came after a minute of silence and a wreath was laid for tribute. Macron, the first French president born after the Algerian war that ended in 1962, did not make a speech at the Pont de Besunes, but spoke with some relatives on the spot.