The legacy of police violence, especially against immigrant communities, stretches back decades. In the fall of 1961, authorities cracked down on thousands of anti-colonialism protesters who had descended on Paris at the height of the Algerian War. Dubbed the Paris Massacre, the tragedy still resonates with France’s Arab and Muslim communities. An estimated 200 people were killed — shot, strangled or thrown into the Seine.

For years, the French government covered up the atrocities.