Around thirty French mayors have issued a joint call for the events of October 17, 1961, in Paris to be officially recognized as a "State crime." Ahead of the 65th anniversary of this colonial repression against Algerian protesters, the signatories are demanding that this date be formally included in the official French national commemorative calendar. The elected officials point to the responsibility of public authorities at the time, specifically under police prefect Maurice Papon, for the brutal crackdown on peaceful demonstrators protesting a discriminatory curfew. Their demands also include unrestricted access to archives related to the Algerian War of Independence, the establishment of memorial sites to educate younger generations, and proper recognition for the survivors and families of victims. These massacres, long denied, are now acknowledged as a dark episode of institutional racism.