Paris marks 50th anniversary of deadly anti-Algerian war demo

Feb 8, 2012, 18:22 GMT

Paris - Several hundred people Wednesday marked the 50th anniversary of the killing by French police of nine people in a demonstration over the war in Algeria.

Eight people were killed in Paris on February 8, 1962 after police attacked a banned but peaceful demonstration demanding an end to France's war against independence groups in its then colony.

The police onslaught caused panic among the protesters and prompted a stampede at the entrance to Charonne metro station, in the city's 11th district.

Some of the victims were crushed to death; others were beaten to death by police. A ninth person died the following day in hospital.

At a ceremony outside Charonne metro station Wednesday, Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe said the killings were 'the symbol of a crime' carried out with the aim of denying Algerians their freedom.

Coming four months after police in Paris massacred around 200 pro-independence Algerian demonstrators on October 17, 1961, the killings caused widespread shock.

In February 1962, President Charles de Gaulle signed a peace treaty with the National Liberation Front, which ended the eight-year war and led to Algerian independence within four months.

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