In response to the call, as well as news of the signing of the Évian Accords, which ended the Algerian War by confirming Algeria's independence, crowds of anti-independence Pied-Noirs marched throughout Algiers, denouncing the treaty.

A 45-man detachment of the French Army's 4th Tirailleur Regiment, most of whom were conscripted Algerian Muslims, manning a roadblock panicked and opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators who were marching towards the neighbourhood of Bab El Oued, killing between 50 and 80 Pied-Noir civilians.

[3] On 1 November 1954, the anti-colonial National Liberation Front (FLN) launched a series of attacks against military, police and civilian targets, sparking the Algerian War.

[4] After seven years of fighting, president of France Charles de Gaulle signed the Évian Accords with the FLN's provisional government on 18 March 1962, ending the war; the treaty proved unpopular with most Pied-Noirs, who supported continued French rule in Algeria.

As the crowd was attempting to march towards the neighbourhood of Bab El Oued, they were confronted on the Rue d'Isly by 45 soldiers from the French Army's 4th Tirailleur Regiment, which was composed mainly of conscripted Algerian Muslims.

[6][5] The soldiers manning the roadblock (who were later described as "poorly commanded and deployed against their will") panicked and responded to the unarmed crowd's continual advance towards them by opening fire on them with machine guns.

[11] It was concluded that to deploy exhausted and demoralised Muslim troops untrained for police duties, under only one junior officer, to control a large and excited crowd of European demonstrators had been a serious error of judgement.