Algeria reminded France of a particularly dark chapter of its colonial past by during the otherwise solemn opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris last night, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
Algerian athletes brought red roses to the barge in which they paraded at the event, then threw them into the Seine River in honor of the victims of the infamous police crackdown on Algerian protesters in Paris in 1961. Some members of the delegation chanted "Long live Algeria!" in Arabic after they threw the flowers.
According to historians, around 120 protesters died and 12,000 were arrested during a protest on October 17, 1961 in support of independence from France, which was Algeria's colonial ruler at the time. Some of them are thrown into the Seine River by the police, AP points out.
French authorities have been trying to cover up the massacre since 1961 for decades. French President Emmanuel Macron recently admitted that the "crimes" committed that day were "unforgivable for the Republic".