1961 Paris Massacre

by MARGARET KIMBERLEY

The 1961 Massacre of Algerians in Paris PHOTO/Global Research

“The victims of white terror are stricken from the historical record and from memory.”

American corporate media and politicians have declared endless mourning for the terror attack which took place in Paris on November 13, 2015. France is a European country, that is to say run by white people, and an ally of the United States, meaning that it is protected by its criminal accessory. It is little wonder that we have been propagandized into grieving for France. The Islamic State carried out the killings of 130 people in Paris but also killed 224 Russians on a passenger plane in Egypt on October 31st. Because Russia has been demonized by the White House and the press corps no one was exhorted to put the Russian flag on social media pages.

While the individuals killed and injured were certainly victims, the government of France is nothing of the sort. France is involved in all of America’s imperial adventures in the Middle East and that intervention is the direct cause of the terror in Paris. France acts along with the United States and Canada as the occupiers of Haiti. Its former African colonies are still under its financial and military control. France has been on the wrong side of humanity many times and has millions of deaths on its ledger.

Not only is France guilty of committing great crimes, but like other white-governed countries, it has succeeded in hiding them from the world. That is what happened in the aftermath of October 17, 1961 when French police killed as many as 200 people in one night.

France is involved in all of America’s imperial adventures in the Middle East and that intervention is the direct cause of the terror in Paris.”

After the defeated French were somehow given credit for victory in World War II, they immediately resumed imperial control of their colonies. In Vietnam and in Algeria the French redoubled efforts to maintain their hold, despite resistance from these colonized peoples. The Algerian war lasted from 1954 until independence was achieved in 1962. This war for liberation took place in France and Algeria with the French doing the typical dirty work of torture and imprisonment.

Maurice Papon had been an administrator in Algeria where his experience detaining and torturing freedom fighters made him the perfect candidate for the job of Paris police chief. Papon climbed the political ladder despite having ties to the collaborationist Vichy regime. Algerians were subject to brutality, imprisonment, theft and murder by Parisian police. The killings had already begun on a smaller scale before the fateful night.

After French police died in the ongoing conflict Papon instituted a curfew for “French Muslims of Algeria.” Protest demonstrations were called for October 17th but the police knew when and where the actions were to take place. They immediately began rounding up Algerians. When those who evaded arrest gathered in major public squares they were shot on the spot, others were beaten and still more were thrown into the Seine river, some already dead and some while still alive.

The cover up began immediately. The press reported only two deaths, even though several police officers admitted to the newspaper France Observateur that they killed 50 people. At least 100 bodies were pulled from the Seine. No one knows for certain how many died but estimates range up to 200 victims.

Algerians were subject to brutality, imprisonment, theft and murder by Parisian police.”

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