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05/09/2005:

"Algeria Asks France to Admit Violence"

ALGIERS, May 8 (Reuters) - President Abdelaziz Bouteflika asked France in a speech published Sunday to admit its part in what he called the massacres of 45,000 Algerians who took to the streets to demand independence on May 8, 1945, as Europe celebrated victory over Nazi Germany.

Algeria is commemorating the 60th anniversary of the repression of pro-independence demonstrators under French colonial rule as Europeans are celebrating the end of World War II in Europe.

"The paradox of the massacres of May 8, 1945, is that when the heroic Algerian combatants returned from the fronts in Europe, Africa and elsewhere where they defended France's honor and interests," Mr. Bouteflika said in the speech, "the French administration fired on peaceful demonstrators." The speech, given in the city of Sétif on Saturday, was published by Algeria's state media.
Full: nytimes.com