Today in Labor History October 17, 1961: French police massacred 200-300 Algerians protesting against police oppression and the curfew imposed against their community in Paris. Police searched the Algerian ghettos for FLN members, indiscriminately killing dozens of innocent Algerians before turning their guns on a large group of protesters gathered near the Seine River. The next day, the police released an official death toll of three dead and 67 wounded, a figure disputed by witnesses who observe bodies littering the area and floating in the Seine.