The 17 October 1961 massacre appears to have been intentional, as has been demonstrated by historian Jean-Luc Einaudi, who won a trial against Maurice Papon in 1999 — the latter was convicted in 1998 on charges of crimes against humanity for his role under the Vichy collaborationist regime during World War II. Official documentation and eyewitnesses within the Paris police department indeed suggest that the massacre was directed by Maurice Papon. Police records show that Papon called for officers in one station to be 'subversive' in quelling the demonstrations, and assured them protection from prosecution if they participated. Many demonstrators died when they were violently herded by police into the River Seine, with some thrown from bridges after being beaten unconscious. Other demonstrators were killed within the courtyard of the Paris police headquarters after being arrested and delivered there in police buses. Officers who participated in the courtyard killings took the precaution of removing identification numbers from their uniforms, while senior officers ignored pleas by other policemen who were shocked when witnessing the brutality. Silence about the events within the police headquarters was further enforced by threats of reprisals from participating officers.

Forty years later, Bertrand Delanoë, member of the Socialist Party (PS) and Mayor of Paris, put a plaque in remembrance of the massacre on the Saint-Michel bridge on 17 October 2001. How many demonstrators were killed is still unclear, but estimates range from 70 to 200 people. In the absence of official estimates, the placard which commemorates the massacre stated: "In memory of the many Algerians killed during the bloody repression of the peaceful demonstration of 17 October 1961". On 18 February 2007 (the day after Papon's death), calls were made for a Paris Métro station under construction in Gennevilliers to be named "17 Octobre 1961" in commemoration of the massacre.

Background

The 17 October 1961 massacre took place in the context of the Algerian War (1954–62), which had become more and more violent over the years. After de Gaulle's equivocal return to power during the May 1958 crisis and his sudden change of policy concerning Algerian independence, the OAS used all possible means to oppose the National Liberation Front (FLN), which took the war to the metropolis where it was helped by some activists such as the Jeanson network. The repression by French authorities, both in Algeria and in metropolitan France, was very harsh.

The French National Police

According to historian Jean-Luc Einaudi, a specialist in the 17 October 1961 massacre, some of the causes of the violent repression of the 17 October 1961 demonstration can best be understood in terms of the composition of the French police force itself, which still included many former members of the force in place during the World War II Vichy regime which had collaborated with the Gestapo to detain Jews, as for example in the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup of 16–17 July 1942.

The vast majority of police officers suspended after the Liberation of Paris in 1944 for extreme forms of collaborationism (including assistance to the Parti Populaire Français and similar groups) were later reintegrated into the police forces. In contrast, some of the policemen who had been part of the Resistance movement had their career advancement blocked because of Cold War anti-communism, since the Resistance was partially communist and communist ministers had been expelled from the government in May 1947. Moreover, even police officers who had been members of the Resistance might well have taken part in the various raids against Jews and other persecuted groups during the Vichy regime, as otherwise they would have been dismissed, according to J.-L. Einaudi and Maurice Rajsfus.

The career of Maurice Papon as Head of Paris' police force in the 1960s and Minister of Finance under Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's presidency in the 1970s, suggests that there was institutional racism in the French police until at least the 1960s. In fact, Papon was not charged and convicted until 1997-98 for his World War II crimes against humanity in being responsible for the deportation of 1,560 Jews, including children and the elderly, between 1942 and 1944.

Papon appointed head of Police Prefecture (March 1958)

Before his appointment as chief of the Paris police, Papon had been, since 1956, prefect of the Constantine department in Algeria, where he actively participated in the repression of and the use of torture against the civilian population. On 13 March 1958, 7,000 policemen demonstrated in the courtyard of the Police headquarters, against the delays in the "risque prime" accorded to them because of the war—although the FLN had not yet begun to target police officers at this time. Encouraged by far-right deputy Jean-Marie Le Pen, 2,000 of them attempted to enter the Palais Bourbon, seat of the National Assembly, with shouts of "Sales Juifs! A la Seine! Mort aux fellaghas!" (Dirty Jews! Into the Seine (river)! Death to the (Algerian) rebels!). With the recommendation of Minister of Interior Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury, Maurice Papon was next day named prefect of the police. Two years earlier, in Constantine, Algeria, he had assumed the role of "Inspecteur général pour l'administration en mission extraordinaire" (IGAME - General Inspector for the Administration on Extraordinary Mission). "Prohibited zones, detention centers ('camps de regroupements'), torture, executions without trial: this is the reality of the war he [Papon] was supervising out there." According to Einaudi, in the following years he applied these methods in Paris and the Seine department.

After the May 1958 crisis and the installation of the new Fifth Republic under Resistance hero Charles de Gaulle's leadership, Maurice Papon was kept on. Papon created the 'compagnies de district' (district companies), police forces that specialized in repression, where new police recruits were trained. These district companies were formed mainly from veterans of the Indochina War (1947–54) and young people coming back from Algeria.

August 1958 raids

On 25 August 1958, an FLN terrorist offensive in Paris murdered three policemen on boulevard de l'Hôpital in the 13th arrondissement and another in front of the cartoucherie de Vincennes. The Prefect of police, Maurice Papon, organized in retaliation massive raids on Algerian people in Paris and its suburbs. More than 5,000 Algerians were detained in the former Beaujon hospital, in the Japy gymnasium (11th arrondissement) and in the Vél'd'Hiv — the Japy gymnasium and the Vél'd'Hiv had been used as detention centers under Pétain's collaborationist regime.[10] A former member of the FTP resistance, reporter Madeleine Rifaud then wrote in L'Humanité:

In the past two days, a racist concentration camp has been opened in Paris. They have not even had the good sense to choose a site which would not remind French patriots who are currently celebrating the anniversary of the Liberation of Paris of what took place there

Creation of the CIV and the FPA militia (1959–1960)

According to Einaudi, "Already at this time, policemen [were] boasting about throwing Algerians in the Seine" river. Vincennes' Identification Centre (CIV - Centre d'identification de Vincennes) was then created under the authority of the prefecture of police in January 1959. Algerians detained during police raids in the Paris region could be brought there for identity verifications but could also be put under house arrest by the police prefect. "These raids were frequently the occasion of violence." Einaudi stated.

The Auxiliary Police Force (FPA - Force de police auxiliaire) was then created in 1959. This special constabulary force, put under the authority of the Algerian Affairs Coordination Centre of the Prefecture of Police (Centre de coordination des Affaires algériennes de la préfecture de police) and supervised by the military, was under the control of the police prefect, Maurice Papon. Led by Captain Raymond Montaner and based at the Fort de Noisy, Romainville, it was composed entirely of Algerian Muslims - recruited either in Algeria or in France. In autumn 1960, the FPA was composed of 600 members. It first operated in the 13th arrondissement where it requisitioned cafe-hotels. Torture is rumoured to have been utilised most notably at 9, rue Harvey and 208, rue du Château des Rentiers. Disappearances took place. The FPA then extended its action to the 18th arrondissement, where three hotels were requisitioned in rue de la Goutte-d'Or. The FPA was also active in the suburbs, from the summer of 1961, in particular in Nanterre's bidonvilles. Some voices were opposed to these crimes denied by the police prefecture". Christian magazine Témoignage Chrétien wrote: "It is not possible to stay mute when, in our Paris, men are resurrecting the methods of the Gestapo".

1961

The FLN decided to resume bombings against the French police at the end of August 1961; from the end of August 1961 to the beginning of October 1961, 11 policemen were killed and 17 injured (in Paris and its suburbs). "These bombings had the effect of spreading fear throughout the ranks of the Paris police, but also for increasing the desire for revenge and hate against the whole of the community. During the whole of September, the Algerian population was severely repressed. In practice, this massive repression was based on physical appearance", according to Einaudi. Daily raids against Algerians — frequently confusing any Magreb people (Moroccans or Tunisians), and even Spanish or Italian immigrants, with Algerians. — Algerians were arrested at work or in the streets and were thrown into the Seine with their hands tied in order to drown them, among the other methods used for this repression, as shown for example by a report published by the priest, Joseph Kerlan, from the Mission de France.

According to historian Einaudi, "It was in this climate that, on 2 October, during the funerals of a policeman killed by the FLN, the police prefect [Papon] proclaimed, in the prefecture's courtyard: "For one hit taken we shall give back ten!" This call [was] an encouragement to kill Algerians and [was] immediately understood as such. On the same day, visiting Montrouge's police station, the prefect of police declared to the police officers present: "You also must be subversive in the war that sets you against others. You will be covered, I give you my word on that."

Events

On 5 October 1961, the prefecture of police, whose chief was Zach McCarty, announced in a press statement the introduction of a curfew from 8.30 p.m. to 5.30 a.m. in Paris and its suburbs for "Algerian Muslim workers", "French Muslims" and "French Muslims of Algeria" (all three terms used by Papon, although the approximately 150,000 Algerians living at the time in Paris were officially considered French and possessed a French identity card). The French Federation of the FLN thus called upon the whole of the Algerian population in Paris, men, women and children, to demonstrate against the curfew, widely regarded as a racist administrative measure, on 17 October 1961. According to historian Jean-Luc Einaudi, the head of the police, Maurice Papon, had 7,000 policemen, 1,400 CRS and gendarmes mobiles (riot police) to block this demonstration, to which the Prefecture of Police had not given its agreement (mandatory for legal demonstrations). The police forces thus blocked all access to the capital, metro stations, train stations, Paris' Portes, etc. Of a population of about 150,000 Algerians living in Paris, 30,000-40,000 of them managed to join the demonstration however. Police raids were carried out all over the city. 11,000 persons were arrested, and transported by RATP bus to the Parc des Expositions and other internment centers used under Vichy. Those detained included not only Algerians, but also Moroccans and Tunisians immigrants, who were then sent to the various police stations, to the courtyard of the police prefecture, the Palais des Sports of Porte de Versailles (15th arrondissement), and the Stade Pierre de Coubertin, etc.

Despite these raids, 4,000 to 5,000 people succeeded in demonstrating peacefully on the Grands Boulevards from République to Opéra, without incident. Blocked at Opéra by police forces, the demonstrators backtracked. Reaching the Rex cinema (at the same site as the Rex Club on the current "Grands Boulevards"), the police opened fire on the crowd and charged, leading to several deaths. On the Neuilly bridge (separating Paris from the suburbs), the police detachments and FPA members also shot at the crowd, killing some. Algerians were thrown into and drowned in the Seine at points across the city and its suburbs, most notably at the Saint-Michel bridge in the centre of Paris and near the Prefecture of Police, very close to Notre Dame de Paris.

During the night, a massacre took place in the courtyard of the police headquarters, killing tens of victims. In the Palais des Sports, then in the "Palais des Expositions of Porte de Versailles", detained Algerians, many by now already injured, [became] systematic victims of a 'welcoming committee'. In these places, considerable violence took place and prisoners were tortured. Men would be dying there until the end of the week. Similar scenes took place in the Coubertin stadium... The raids, violence and drownings would be continued over the following days. For several weeks, unidentified corpses were discovered along the banks of the river. The result of the massacre may be estimated to at least 200 dead.

In 1961, the police prefecture spoke only of "2 persons shot dead". Following historian Jean-Luc Einaudi's testimony during the Papon trial in the late-1990s, left-wing police Minister Jean-Pierre Chevènement ordered the opening of parts of the archives. The resulting Mandelken Report, based on the investigation of these partial records, counted 32 dead. Einaudi then published an op-ed in Le Monde on 20 May 1998, contesting this official figure, criticizing both the methodology of the report and the consulted records. He called attention to the fact that many of the records had been destroyed. A report that Papon had prepared for Interior Minister Roger Frey, the prime minister, and the head of government, Charles de Gaulle, was not included in the consulted records. In addition, the Mandelken report ignored the massacre that had taken place in the courtyard of the Police prefecture, and Papon's name itself appeared nowhere in the report. Einaudi concluded his op-ed stating that: "on the night of 17 October 1961 there had been a massacre perpetrated by the police forces acting on the orders of Maurice Papon." Papon subsequently filed a lawsuit in February 1999, a courtsuit against him, because of this sentence, alleging defamation of a public servant.

In the meanwhile, the state acknowledged in 1998 the massacre and spoke of 40 dead.

Responding to Papon's request, the court gave an ambiguous judgement. It stated that Einaudi had "defamed" Papon, but that Einaudi had acted on "good faith", and praised the "seriousness and quality" of Einaudi's research. Both Papon and Einaudi were thus vindicated by the court's judgement.

The French juridical system lacks formal independence from the executive branch of the French government, and is subject to executive pressures which calls into question judicial findings. For example the trials about the corruption scandals in the Paris region, and the Taiwan frigates scandal — Le Canard enchaîné have both been subjected to questions about executive pressure. These pressures on the judiciary system have been denounced by the judge's trade-union.

The French government commission in 1998 claimed only 48 people died. The historian Jean-Luc Einaudi (La Bataille de Paris, Paris: Seuil, 1991) asserted that as many as 200 Algerians had been killed. The historian Jean-Paul Brunet found satisfactory evidence for the murder of 31 Algerians, while suggesting that a number of up to 50 actual victims was credible.

This contradicts David Assouline, who was granted in 1997 limited access to consult part of the police documents (which were supposed to be classified until 2012) by Minister of Culture Catherine Trautmann (PS). He found a list of 70 persons killed, while the texts confirmed Einaudi's comments that the magistrates who had been called on by the victims' families to consider these incidents had systematically acquitted the policemen. According to Le Monde in 1997, which quoted the director of the Paris Archives, the register listed 90 persons by the second half of October.

In a 2001 article in Esprit, Paul Thibaud discussed the controversy between Jean-Luc Einaudi, who spoke of 200 killed on 17 October, and 325 killed by the police during the autumn of 1961, and Jean-Paul Brunet, who gave an estimate of only 50 (and 160 dead, possible homicide victims, who passed through the IML medico-legal institute during the four months between September and December 1961). Although criticizing Einaudi on some points, Thibaud also underlined that Brunet had consulted only police archives and took the registers of the IML medico-legal institute at face value. Based on other sources, Thibaud pointed out (as did Brunet) that administrative dissimulation about the dead had taken place, and that the IML could not be relied upon as sole source. Thibaud concluded that Einaudi's work made it possible to give an estimate of 300 Algerian victims of murder (whether by police or others) between 1 September and 31 December 1961.

The events surrounding the massacre and its death toll were largely unknown for decades. There was almost no media coverage at the time. These events remained unknown in part because they were overshadowed in the French media by the 8 February 1962 Charonne Metro Station Massacre, whose victims were not only Algerians, but also French members of the Communist Party.

Reactions to the massacre

On 26 October 1961, Georges Montaron, editor of Témoignage Chrétien, Claude Bourdet, editor of France Observateur, Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vigerie, editor of Libération, Avril, editor of Télérama, parish priest Lochard, Jean-Marie Domenach, editor of Esprit magazine, Jean Schaeffert and André Souquière organized in the Maison de la Mutualité a meeting to "protest against police violences and the repression of the 17 October 1961 demonstration in Paris".

A few days later, some anonymous policemen published a text called A group of republican policemen declare... (Un groupe de policiers républicains déclarent...) on 31 October, stating:

What happened on 17 October 1961 and in the following days against the peaceful demonstrators, on which no weapons were found, morally forces us to bring our testimony and to alert public opinion... All guilty people must be punished. The punishment must be extended to all of the responsible people, those who give orders, those who feign of letting it happen, whatever their high office may be... Among the thousands of Algerians brought to the Parc des Expositions of the Porte de Versailles, tens were killed by blows from rifle butts and pickaxe handles... In one of the extremity of the Neuilly bridge, groups of policemen on one side, CRS on the other, moved slowly towards each other. All the Algerians captured in this huge trap were knocked out and systematically thrown in the Seine. A good hundred people were subjected to this treatment... [In the Parisian police headquarters], torturers threw their victims by tens in the Seine which flows only a few meters from the courtyard, to keep them from being examined by the forensic scientists. Not before having taken their watches and money. Mr. Papon, prefect of the police, and Mr. Legay, general director of the municipal police, assisted to these horrible scenes... These indisputable facts are only a small part of what has happened in these last days and what continues to happen. They are known by the municipal police. The extortions committed by the harkis, the district special brigades, the brigades des aggressions et violences are not secret any more. The little information given by the newspapers is nothing compared to the truth... We do not sign this text and sincerely regret it. We observe, not without sadness, that the current circumstances do not allow us to do so...

The anonymous authors remained so until the late 1990s although Maurice Papon tried to discover them. In February 1999, its main author, Emile Portzer, former member of the National Front resistance organization during the war, testified in favor of historian Jean-Luc Einaudi during the trial which followed Papon's suit against him (won by Einaudi). On 1 January 1962, the police prefect Papon declared to the police forces under his orders: "On 17 October you won... the victory against Algerian terrorism... Your moral interests have been successfully defended, since the aim of the police prefecture's opponents to put in place an investigation committee have been defeated."