Thiaroye massacre: Honouring Senegal’s slain soldiers, 80 years on

On December 1, Senegal marks the 80th anniversary of the Thiaroye massacre. On that day in 1944, at least 35 Tirailleurs – members of a colonial infantry unit from Senegal who served in the French army – were gunned down by French forces for demanding their pay after returning from World War II. For decades, the French army justified the killings, claiming the carnage was in response to a « mutiny ». It was only in 2012 that then-president François Hollande referred to a « bloody crackdown. » On November 28, President Emmanuel Macron finally acknowledged in a letter to Senegalese authorities that the horrific event that unfolded in Thiaroye in 1944 was indeed a massacre.