Leaders and members of repatriate associations paid tribute to the victims of the rue d’Isly shooting in Algiers on the occasion of the 56th anniversary by laying wreaths at the Alsace Lorraine Garden monument.
The tone was revanchist, as demonstrated by the remarks of Gérard Leger, president of the Historical Documentation Center of Algeria, who, in his speech, explicitly referred to the responsibility of the government of the time for this dramatic episode.
An inappropriate attitude for an official ceremony, especially since representatives of local authorities were present, albeit … silently and awkwardly!!!
Through the Évian Accords and the “ceasefire” of March 19, 1962, the French government and its FLN (National Liberation Front) adversaries ended the Algerian war, not without causing significant unrest among the “European” population in Algeria.
These individuals were outraged that the government had conceded. So, contrary to expectations, the fighting intensified with a new player, the OAS (Secret Army Organization).
Thus, on March 22, 1962, three days after the “ceasefire,” eleven soldiers were killed in an OAS attack. The army immediately responded with heavy weaponry, attacking the Bab el-Oued district where activists had taken refuge, resulting in dozens of casualties.
On March 26, 1962, by way of protest, a peaceful crowd of Europeans, including women and children, marched to the Bab el-Oued district to protest its blockade by the French army.
In rue d’Isly, in front of the main post office, a detachment of Algerian riflemen from the French army confronted the demonstrators.
A shooting broke out (it has never been formally established who triggered it), the riflemen responded, and officially more than fifty deaths were recorded, including two ten-year-old girls, and two hundred injured.
Two days after the shooting on Monday, March 26, the High Commissioner of France, Christian Fouchet, addressed the “French men and women of Algiers” via a televised speech, politically assigning responsibility to the OAS.
To date, no official responsibility has been established. The opinions of the few historians who have examined this case differ.
