Algerian athletes honor victims of 1961 brutality at Paris Olympics ceremony

By Esra Taskin

PARIS (AA) - Algerian athletes honored the memory of victims of a 1961 police crackdown during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics on Friday.

The athletes brought red roses on their boat as they paraded for the event, and then tossed them into the river to honor victims of the brutality on Algerian protesters in Paris.

Many protesters were killed and arrested as they demonstrated on Oct. 17, 1961 in support of independence from France, then Algeria’s colonial ruler. Some were also thrown in the Seine River by police.

- Path to the massacre

On Oct. 5, 1961, a curfew was imposed on Algerians living in Paris and its surroundings.

Against the restrictions and in support for independence, approximately 30,000 Algerians organized a peaceful demonstration on Oct. 17, 1961.

The protesters, however, faced a brutal crackdown by the police under the orders of then Paris police chief Maurice Papon.

While the exact number of deaths remains officially unconfirmed, witnesses and independent sources say more than 300 Algerians were killed, many shot by French police. Witnesses said some demonstrators were also killed within the premises of police headquarters or at metro stations.

In 1998, France acknowledged the death of 40 individuals, but labeled the massacre as a "state crime."

- French parliament condemns 1961 events

On March 28, the French National Assembly approved a resolution condemning the mass killing.

The resolution noted the Algerian families protesting the curfew imposed only on "Algerian Muslim French" were met with severe and deadly force by the police under the command of Papon.