Bizerte, 1961 | Clash Between De Gaulle and Bourguiba Turns to Massacre

⚠️ Urgent Information — Flash Radio is following this situation in real time. The premiere of the documentary film 'Bourguiba – De Gaulle: Clash at Bizerte', directed by Olfa Chakroun, is scheduled for Saturday, October 17, 2026, at 10:30 AM at the Africa Cinema in Tunis. Sixty years later, French paratroopers and Tunisian forces break the silence. ⏱️ 2 min read. The facts and recent developments. Sixty years later, French paratroopers and Tunisian soldiers break the silence. Five years after Tunisia's independence and one year before Algeria's, the French naval base at Bizerte, which controls access to the Strait of Sicily, becomes a major point of contention. Habib Bourguiba demands its return; Charles De Gaulle categorically refuses. This documentary is an investigation into the Battle of Bizerte in 1961. It features the voices of French paratroopers, Tunisian soldiers, and several participants in the war over sixty years later. The film focuses on the historical and memorial significance of the battle, concluding with a historical trial that highlights the immense moral responsibility of the politicians involved in this conflict: in four days, the French attack turns into a massacre across the entire Bizerte governorate, which was filled with Tunisian demonstrators, unarmed volunteers, and civilians. The documentary explores the sites of the battle through field investigation, seeking correspondence between the testimonies of participants and the images of the places, from yesterday's video archives to today. The traces and memories of the war are scattered throughout the governorate: around the Sidi Ahmed airbase, with the French paratroopers' ground attack on Tunisian demonstrators and the Tunisian soldiers' aerial attack in the trenches; in the city of Bizerte, the French quarter, the Medina, and the Mateur gate, theaters of deadly street battles where demonstrators, civilians, and soldiers fall.