The French Federation of the FLN organized this demonstration to protest the imposition of the curfew, enforced by the chief of police, forbidding Algerians — “French Muslims” as they were called at the time — to go out between 8:30 PM and 5:30 AM. This ban was intended to obstruct the organization of the FLN and the movement of its activists.

Faced with the continuation of the war in Algeria and the collapse of attempts at negotiation under pressure from elements within the state machine who wanted to continue the war to the bitter end, the French Federation of the FLN decided to broaden the struggle in solidarity with the one being fought in Algeria, and above all to demonstrate its representative nature. This decision to demonstrate peacefully was unanimous, but the federation could not have imagined the degree of cruelty of the repression, nor its extent.

The French Federation therefore called for a peaceful, disciplined demonstration; no one was to carry the smallest pin or knife in their pockets. Mohammedi Saddok, the coordinator, who was in close contact with us, knew how severe previous confrontations had been, and Omar Boudaoud, “boss” of the French Federation, proposed the presence of French “observers,” who would not be participants but witnesses.