Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has called on France to admit its part in the massacres of 45,000 of his protesters demanding independence on the day Europe victory over Nazi Germany on May 8th, 1945.
Algeria is marking the 60th anniversary of the repression of pro-independence demonstrators under French colonial rule on the same day as France joins other European states celebrating the end of World War Two.
"The paradox of the massacres of May 8th, 1945, is that when the heroic Algerian combatants returned from the fronts in Europe, Africa and elsewhere where they defended France's honour and interests ... the French administration fired on peaceful demonstrators," Mr Bouteflika said in a speech published by state media this afternoon.
Colonial forces launched an air-and-ground offensive against several eastern cities, particularly Setif and Guelma, in response to anti-French riots, which killed more than 100 Europeans.
The crackdown lasted several days and according to the Algerian state left 45,000 people dead.
European historians put the figure at between 15,000 and 20,000.
It marks one of the darkest chapters in the history of Algeria and France, which ruled the North African country with an iron fist from 1830 until 1962.
France's ambassador to Algeria said in February that the Setif massacre was an "inexcusable tragedy". It was the most explicit comments by the French state on the disputed event.
"The Algerian people are still waiting for France ... that the declarations of the ambassador of France are followed by a more convincing gesture," Mr Bouteflika said in a speech given in Setif on yesterday.
Several remembrance events are being held across Algeria.