Algeria celebrates National Day of Memory for the first time May 8, 2021 at 3:16 pm | Published in: Africa, Algeria, Europe & Russia, France, News Protestors hold an Algerian flag during a demonstration, in Bordeaux, southwestern France on December 12, 2020 [THIBAUD MORITZ/AFP via Getty Images] May 8, 2021 at 3:16 pm For the first time on Saturday, Algeria will celebrate the National Day of Memory, which coincides with the 76th anniversary of the massacres of 8 May, 1945, when the French colonial forces suppressed a demonstration calling for the independence of Algeria, killing thousands of protesters east of the country. Official ceremonies are scheduled to take place under the slogan "Memory will not Forget" in the city of Setif, which witnessed the colonial suppression of demonstrations demanding Algeria's independence on the occasion of the allies 'celebration of victory over Nazism in World War II.