The Paris massacre of 1961 occurred on 17 October 1961, during the Algerian War (1954–62). Under orders from the head of the Parisian police, Maurice Papon, the French National Police attacked a demonstration by 30,000 pro-National Liberation Front (FLN) Algerians. After 37 years of denial and censorship of the press, in 1998 the French government finally acknowledged 40 deaths, although there are estimates of 100 to 300 victims. Death was due to heavy-handed beating by the police, as well as mass drownings, as police officers threw demonstrators into the river Seine.
There were multiple episodes of violence between French police and the French Algerian community during the Algerian War. The police department was racist on an institutional level and terrorized Algerians with violence; pro-liberation Algerians targeted and killed police with bombing campaigns.
It was in this context that the head of the Parisian police, Maurice Papon (a former Nazi collaborator later convicted of crimes against humanity) ordered police to kill Algerians, insisting that they would be protected from any consequences.
Under these orders, the French National Police attacked a demonstration by 30,000 pro-National Liberation Front (FLN) Algerians on October 17th, beating dozens to death and throwing people into the Seine river, where many drowned.
Forty years after the massacre, on 17 October 2001, Bertrand Delanoë, the Socialist Mayor of Paris, put up a plaque in remembrance of the massacre on the Pont Saint-Michel. How many demonstrators were killed is still unclear. In the absence of official estimates, the plaque commemorating the massacre reads, “In memory of the many Algerians killed during the bloody repression of the peaceful demonstration of 17 October 1961”
October 17, 1961: A massacre of Algerians in the heart of Paris 
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Also, saw a privileged ass post stating how it’s totally ok to not follow anything that happens in the world, just block and mute and carry on with the circle jerk of Optimizing your Self or whatever. The puncline was: Put Yourself First.
And fucking hell, maybe the hyper-individualized bs is one big reason why we are in all the messes in the first place.
(I am not saying stepping back for mental health reasons isn’t ok. I am saying checking out fully and celebrating it like it’s some form of mental health advocacy is.)