The Charonne Massacre is a grim chapter in France’s colonial history

On 8 February, it will be the 60th anniversary of the Charonne Massacre, where police attacked demonstrators taking part in an illegal protest, writes David Harding

Tuesday 01 February 2022 21:30 GMT

President Emmanuel Macron has spoken about ‘unforgivable’ acts carried out by France (AP)

Aimlessly waiting for a train at the Paris Metro station, Charonne, I spotted a tiny commemorative plaque tucked at the end of a platform.

I went to look – just to practise my rubbish French – but what I read made me miss my train. Just a few sentences were engraved on the slate-coloured memorial but with each one, the mood got increasingly grimmer.

A demonstration by left-wing protesters had taken place, it read, in the 11th arrondissement, where Charonne is located, in the last days of Algeria’s war of independence from colonial France in 1962. At the very bottom of the plaque were nine names – the names of people who died on the very spot where I was standing.

On 8 February, it will be the 60th anniversary of the Charonne Massacre, another grim chapter in the history of France and its colonial rule of Algeria – this one carried out at home. Police, led by Maurice Papon, a man with plenty of blood on his hands as he deported 1,600 Jews during the Second World War, attacked demonstrators taking part in an illegal protest.

Just a few months earlier, police in Paris had violently suppressed another demonstration, killing up to 200 people, some they had thrown into the River Seine and who drowned. Unsurprisingly, frightened protestors fled the police and sought sanctuary in Charonne station.

Undeterred, bloodthirsty police threw iron vents at people trapped on stairwells. Some died from fractured skulls, others were crushed to death. The youngest to perish was just 16 years old.

This year’s anniversary comes as France, like Britain, confronts its grim colonial legacy. Paris ruled Algeria for 132 years until being defeated just a few weeks after the tragedy at Charonne. President Emmanuel Macron – the first French leader born after the war of independence – has spoken about “unforgivable” acts carried out by France but resisted calls for an apology by the state.

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The issue will surface even more readily this year because of the spring presidential election. Macron has already told the pieds-noir – French citizens born in Algeria – of the need for “reconciliation”. Far-right candidate Eric Zemmour’s parents were born in Algeria.

And if a reminder was ever needed of the events of the recent past, there is always Charonne station. If you find yourself in Paris, it is worth a humbling visiting to pay your respects.

Yours,