However , in March 1941 Messali Hadj was tried by a Vichy court and sentenced to 16 years of hard labour . He was confined first to southern Algeria and then in Brazzaville in French Equatorial Africa . Nonetheless , he continued to be active in the Algerian nationalist movement . Once World War II came to an end , he was amnestied and returned to Algeria . However , straining relations between the '' " Parti du Peuple Algérien " '' and the '' " Amis du Manifeste et de la Liberté " '' ( AML ) , as well as the decision to arrest and deport Messali Hadj , contributed to the outbreak of riots in Sétif and Constantinois on May 8 , 1945 . The death of some one hundred Europeans during the riots saw the French authorities ruthlessly suppress the Algerian nationalists and the army and police killed approximately 10,000 Muslims
killed approximately 10,000 Muslims
Sétif and Guelma massacre
Messali Hadj