The article deals with the relationship between Algerian immigrants, the French State, and particularly the Police. In the first years of the 1940's, there was equality of rights between "Muslims" (Algerians) and "Europeans" (the French). Acquiring full citizenship at the moment they entered France, Algerians enjoyed travelling freedom between the two edges of the Mediterranean. However, the liberation war in Algeria triggered an increase in immigration to France, generating protests among the French. From the end of II World War to the end of the independence war in Algeria, Police hierarchy resisted to the "myth of rights' equality". Impotent to deal with the immigration flow, Police implemented a confrontation policy with the "undesirable," i.e., the stigmatized Algerian population in France, whose presence in the public space was perceived as a problem.
police; immigration; colonial relationships; Algeria; France.