The wreath of flowers was placed in the early morning near the Seine.
Sunday, October 17, 60 years to the day after the massacre of Algerians under the authority of the then prefect Maurice Papon, the Paris police prefect, Didier Lallement, paid tribute to the victims of October 17, 2001.
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Didier Lallement laid a wreath of flowers at the level of the Pont Saint-Michel, shortly after 8 am in front of some journalists and police officers. The bell for the dead has sounded. Then a minute of silence was observed "
in memory of the dead of October 17, 1961
", according to the words spoken by a representative of the prefecture of police at the microphone. Didier Lallement, the first Paris police prefect to pay tribute to the victims, did not speak and only stayed a few minutes on the spot.
On Saturday, Emmanuel Macron said in a statement that "
the crimes committed that night under the authority of Maurice Papon are inexcusable for the Republic
", designating the one who was at the time the Paris police prefect.
The Head of State himself took part on Saturday in a tribute on the banks of the Seine, near the Bezons bridge, borrowed 60 years ago by Algerian demonstrators who arrived from the neighboring slum of Nanterre to the appeal from the branch of the National Liberation Front (FLN) based in France.
Several dozen killed
That night of October 17, 1961, a crackdown - "
brutal, violent, bloody
", in the words of the Élysée Palace - fell on demonstrators protesting against the ban on Algerians leaving their homes after 8:30 p.m. .
“
Nearly 12,000 Algerians were arrested and transferred to sorting centers at the Coubertin stadium, the Sports Palace and other places.
In addition to many wounded, several dozen were killed, their bodies thrown into the Seine
”, recognized Saturday for the first time the French presidency.
The official toll has so far only counted three victims.
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“
There is progress, but it is not an acknowledgment of a state crime.
I said to the president: it is the point of arrival of something and the departure of another
”, reacted Nasser Kettane, president of Beur FM, invited to the ceremony.
A demonstration called in particular by the League of Human Rights (LDH) is scheduled for Sunday afternoon in Paris, from the Rex to the Pont Saint-Michel.
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