‘Crimes must go to court’: France confronts its grisly Algerian war past

The Paris government’s decision to release archives on the war of independence have prompted fresh calls for justice, reports Peter Allen

French paratroopers interrogate suspected attacker Omar Merrouane during Algeria’s war for independence in 1957 (AFP via Getty Images)

Mohammed Endarek was a teenager when he witnessed a series of murderous attacks carried out by Paris police officers.

He watched helplessly as scores of Algerians, including close friends, were beaten repeatedly with truncheons and rifle butts before being thrown into the River Seine.

As many as 300 mainly young men were killed on a single night in 1961 as they called for France to abandon the Algerian war of independence – arguably the most savage conflict in the history of decolonisation.