French groups condemn desecration of memorial to Algerian massacre victims in Lyon

Several French associations have strongly condemned the recent desecration of a memorial plaque in Lyon honouring the victims of the October 17, 1961 massacre in Paris — one of the darkest episodes of France’s colonial repression against Algerians.

In a joint statement, the Mouvement Dynamique des Algériens de France (MODAF), Devoir de Mémoire et Réconciliation, Givors Mémoire, the Centre des Cultures Arabes et Méditerranéennes, and the Maison de l’Algérie en Diaspora expressed “deep indignation and firm condemnation” over what they called “a grave affront to memory, to the Republic, and to the values of coexistence," Caliber.Az writes per Africa News. 

The organisations stressed that the plaque stands as “a fair and universal republican memory — a legitimate tribute to the victims and a call for reconciliation between peoples.”

They also praised Lyon’s mayor, Grégory Doucet, for his swift reaction. Doucet immediately filed a legal complaint and urged the judiciary to “act promptly and decisively” to identify and prosecute those responsible.

Describing the act as an attack on the Republic and on the “duty of truth,” the groups called for collective vigilance to defend the principles of justice, shared memory, and social cohesion.

For many African observers, the incident underscores France’s continued difficulty in confronting its colonial past — particularly the violence inflicted on African peoples. The October 17, 1961 massacre, during which French police killed or drowned hundreds of Algerians protesting a racist curfew imposed on North Africans, remains a painful and unresolved chapter in Franco-Algerian history.

Through this act of vandalism, critics say, some seek to erase an uncomfortable part of France’s past — at a time when many African nations are pressing for truth, justice, and recognition of the suffering endured under colonial rule.

By Sabina Mammadli