France accuses Algeria of trying to humiliate it
French interior minister Bruno Retailleau has accused Algeria of “trying to humiliate France” after the former colony refused to admit one of its nationals who was being deported, reported AP on January 10th.
The influencer was arrested in Montpellier on January 5th on charges of inciting violence in social media videos. On January 9th he was put on a flight to Algiers, but authorities there refused to admit him, saying he was banned. He was then sent back to France.
French police have in recent days arrested four Algerians authorities describe as social media influencers accused of inciting violence, against a backdrop of soured relations between Paris and Algiers.
“I want to express my astonishment,” Retailleau said on January 10th. “I think we’ve reached an extremely worrying threshold with Algeria. It’s clear that Algeria is trying to humiliate France.”
Two separate Algerian influencers were arrested last week in Grenoble and Brest, and a female TikTok influencer was taken into police custody in Lyon on January 9th, accused of making “death threats” against opponents of the Algerian government.
“There’s absolutely no question of giving free rein to the hatred of these individuals who are spreading antisemitism, murder etc,” Retailleau said. “Social networks are not a lawless zone.”
Retailleau also denounced the detention since November of French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal by Algiers, who is an outspoken critic of the government there. Retailleau said Sansal is “old and ill” and said Algiers was keeping him in prison “for the wrong reasons.”
France’s shift last July on the Western Sahara issue outraged Algeria and prompted it to withdraw its ambassador in Paris.
