In 1961, Maurice Papon was personally awarded the Legion of Honour by French President Charles de Gaulle, whose government had been struggling with the FLN insurgency. Papon was also in charge of the Paris police during the Paris massacre of 1961 and the February 1962 massacre at the Charonne metro station, which took place during an anti-Organisation armée secrète (OAS) demonstration that had been organised by the French Communist Party (PCF). Forced to resign in 1967 after the suspicious forced disappearance of the Moroccan Marxist Mehdi Ben Barka, he was supported by de Gaulle in being named as president of Sud Aviation company, which co-created the Concorde plane.