text: Gradually, dissatisfaction among the Muslim population, which lacked political and economic status under the colonial system, gave rise to demands for greater political autonomy and eventually independence from France.In May 1945, the uprising against the occupying French forces was suppressed through what is now known as the Sétif and Guelma massacre.Tensions between the two population groups came to a head in 1954, when the first violent events of what was later called the Algerian War began after the publication of the Declaration of 1 November 1954.Historians have estimated that between 30,000 and 150,000 Harkis and their dependents were killed by the National Liberation Front (FLN) or by lynch mobs in Algeria.The FLN used hit and run attacks in Algeria and France as part of its war, and the French conducted severe reprisals.In addition, the French destroyed over 8,000 villages and relocated over 2 million Algerians to concentration camps.The war led to the death of hundreds of thousands of Algerians and hundreds of thousands of injuries.Historians, like Alistair Horne and Raymond Aron, state that the actual number of Algerian Muslim war dead was far greater than the original FLN and official French estimates but was less than the 1 million deaths claimed by the Algerian government after independence.Horne estimated Algerian casualties during the span of eight years to be around 700,000.The war uprooted more than 2 million Algerians.The war against French rule concluded in 1962, when Algeria gained complete independence following the March 1962 Evian agreements and the July 1962 self-determination referendum.The first three decades of independence (1962–1991) The number of European Pied-Noirs who fled Algeria totaled more than 900,000 between 1962 and 1964.