During the Paris Commune, 25 May 1871, the editor of L'Ami du Peuple, Vermorel was seriously injured during the bloody week on the barricade erected between 1 and 2 of the boulevard, blocking one of the issues instead of Château d'Eau (now Place de la Republique). Taken prisoner, he died a few days later for lack of care. The same day, the Central Committee of Public Hi de la Commune meets for the last time in the 11th arrondissement town hall located place Voltaire (now place Léon Blum). On leaving the meeting, Charles Delescluze, founder of Le Alarm and mayor of the 19th arrondissement visited the barricade at the beginning of the Boulevard Voltaire, where he died. On 8 February 1962, during a demonstration against the OAS organized by leftist political parties, trade unions and students, eight protesters died of suffocation at the subway station Charonne.