The symbol of France's bloody repression 60 years since the "Sharon" metro tragedy in Paris

On February 8, 1962, the French authorities bloodily suppressed a demonstration for peace in Algeria, which resulted in the killing of nine people at the Sharon metro station in Paris.

On February 8, 1962, a demonstration for peace in Algeria killed nine people at the Sharon metro station in Paris, becoming, shortly before the end of the Algiers war, a bloody symbol of state repression.

A few days before that, the secret armed organization, which rejects Algeria's independence from French colonialism, carried out several bombings that resulted in many casualties. One of these bombings targeted Minister of Culture André Malraux and disfigured the face of a 4-year-old girl.

This happened despite the fact that the majority of the French had already declared their support for Algeria's right to self-determination, which was achieved thanks to the signing of the Evian Accords on March 18 and the declaration of a ceasefire, which opened the way to independence.

Under the state of emergency in force since April 1961, Paris Governor Maurice Papon banned a peaceful assembly called for on 8 February in Place de la Bastille, the Communist Party, the United Socialist Party, and left-wing unions and organizations.

But the organizers called on "the workers and all anti-fascists in the Paris region to declare their indignation and their desire to defeat fascism and impose peace in Algeria."

Five processions of demonstrators from different metro stations were scheduled to arrive in La Bastet Square to listen to the speeches of the organizers, but the police received orders to disperse the gatherings at all costs.

However, after violent clashes with the police, many managed to reach the gathering place, and a letter was read.

But tragedy happened on the way back.

On the rue Voltaire, clashes between police forces who used "batons" and "protesters who put vegetable cages to protect their heads" and "throw stones at the police" resulted in a number of injuries.

Some protesters tried to flee the police towards the Sharon metro station. A deadly stampede ensued, as police chased after them to beat them, while throwing heavy iron nets surrounding the trees at those who tried to get out.

Those who could not pass through the closed gates suffocated, and others died with their skulls shattered by the blows they received.

The death toll was eight, including three women and a 15-year-old boy. Another man died eight weeks later from his injuries. All but one of them are CGT affiliated and are members of the Communist Party.

In 2002, Jacqueline Gichard described the day after her postal job ended: "A rush into the metro, gates closed, then a big black hole."

"We left with 7 or 8 friends," including Anne-Claude Godot, 24, who died in the accident, added this activist in the Communist Party at the time.

And she continued, "We were walking in a demonstration, and the night approached, and we were shouting, 'Peace in Algeria'."

It was a demand protest and nothing more. At the Sharon station, the leader of the demonstration gave us the order to disperse Suddenly, policemen armed with helmets and batons attacked the crowd and everyone rushed to the metro.” She asked, “Why did we enter this metro? I do not know. Why was Anne-Claude beaten? Wasn't she and not me? I do not know either".

"Top absurd"

Jacqueline lost her companions and found herself stuck in front of the gates. The first victims began to fall. Then I was able to get home around nine in the evening. "I understood what happened by listening to the radio," she adds.

For historian Pierre Vidal Nacchi, who died in 2006, what happened was "the height of absurdity".

It is hard to understand the police violence while the government was in the midst of negotiations with Algerian representatives for an agreement that was signed a month later. However, what happened is state oppression," he said on the 40th anniversary of the tragedy.

Historian Olivier Le Coeur Grandmaison said that "there is no doubt that (President Charles) de Gaulle wanted to demonstrate that his power was in place" and that "it was not in his interest for the Communist Party to appear strong."

According to historian Alain Doerbe, the French "state massacre" was followed on February 13 by the participation of between 100,000 and 200,000 people in the funerals of the victims.

For a long time in the collective memory, this tragedy covered other bloody events, such as the police crackdown on the October 17, 1961 demonstration, during which dozens of Algerians died when they protested at the call of the French branch of the FLN against the curfew issued by Maurice Papon himself.

This omission was explained by historian Gilles Manceron through the silence imposed by the French authorities about the 1961 massacre and less interest in the French left, which was not the organizer of the demonstration.