17 Octobre 1961 demonstrations

[Mnarvi-DZ]

on that day, FLN members in France demonstrated against the new rules set by Maurice Papon. The demonstration was peaceful but the french police over-reacted and killed more than 300 innocent people, throwing most of them in La Seine river.
One of the girls killed then, she was 15 yo, has been exhumated last week and has been buried in Algeria today.

What happened on that day, in French

[Al-khiyal]

17 octobre 1961 - Documents

17 octobre 1961 - Film reportage

[Al-khiyal]

Paris 1961: Algerians, State Terror, and Memory by Jim House, Neil MacMaster (Amazon U.S.)

Paris 1961: Algerians, State Terror, and Memory by Jim House, Neil MacMaster (Amazon U.K.)

Paris 1961: Algerians, State Terror, and Memory by Jim House, Neil MacMaster (Amazon France)

Uses previously unavailable sources to uncover the truth about one of the most controversial episodes in contemporary French history:

"The massacre of Algerian demonstrators by the Paris police on the night of 17 October 1961 is one of the most contested events in contemporary French history. This book provides a multi-layered investigation of the repression through a critical examination of newly opened archives, oral sources, the press and contemporary political movements and debates. The roots of violence are traced back to counter-insurgency techniques developed by the French military in North Africa and introduced into Paris to crush the independence movement among Algerian migrant workers. The study shows how and why this event was rapidly expunged from public visibility in France, but was kept alive by immigrant and militant minorities, to resurface in a dramatic form after the 1980s. Through this case-study the authors explore both the dynamics of state terror as well as the complex memorial processes by which these events continue to inform and shape post-colonial society."

Contents

General Introduction

Part I: Colonial Violence and State Terror

Introduction

1. Papon and the Colonial Origins of Police Violence
2. The FLN Counter-State and Police Repression 1958-1961
3. The Police Crisis and Terror July to 16 October 1961
4. The Demonstrations of 17 to 20 October 1961
5. The Political Crisis 18 October to 1 December 1961
6. Counting the Victims and Identifying the Killers

Part II: Revisiting October and the Afterlives of Memory

Introduction

7. Contesting Colonial Repression 1945-1961
8. Fragmented Reactions to State Violence September-November 1961
9. The Marginalization of 17 October 1961 (1961-1968)
10. 'Underground' Memories 1962-1979
11. Emergent Memories 1980-1997
12. Ever-Present Memories
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

A sample of this book is available in .pdf format

[Al-khiyal]

Nuit noire 17 octobre 1961

[Al-khiyal]

February 17th, PARIS - A new metro station just outside Paris is to be renamed Sunday to commemorate a 1961 demonstration in the capital during which police killed dozens of pro-Algeria protestors.

"Gennevilliers 1", a station under construction in the northwest suburbs, is to be renamed "17 octobre 1961", the date of the protest in which between 35 and 325 demonstrators are thought to have been killed.

The police crackdown, which happened during the height of Algeria's battle for independence from France, was ordered by the then chief of the police for Paris, Maurice Papon.

Papon was eventually convicted of war crimes and jailed in 1998 for ten years for his collaboration with the Nazis during World War II. He was released on health grounds in 2002.

Paris metro to commemorate victims of pro-Algeria protest

[Al-khiyal]

Paris, February 17th, 2007: War criminal Papon dies at 96

[Al-khiyal]

Octobre 1961 de Jean-Luc Einaudi