12. Victory Celebrations Took a Tragic Turn
Roughly 5,000 native Algerians marched in Setif to celebrate the end of WWII, and some of them carried placards that stated “We Want Equality“, and “End the Occupation“. Others called for the release of Algerian political prisoners held by the colonial authorities. When the marchers with placards refused to get rid of them, French settlers and police opened fire on the unarmed crowds. The result was an outbreak of riots, followed by attacks on French settlers throughout the region, in which about 100 were killed.
The head of the French government in Metropolitan France, General Charles De Gaulle, ordered the colonial authorities in Algeria to restore order by all means possible. The French military responded to the unrest in Setif with a campaign of collective punishment that entailed the indiscriminate use of heavy weapons of war against Algerian civilians. From the sea, French battleships and cruisers opened fire on native Algerian neighborhoods in Setif and its surrounding environs. From the air, French dive bombers struck and flattened over 40 Algerian villages.