Paris accuses Algeria of attempting to humiliate France by refusing to confess a deported influencer | EUROtoday

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French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau on Friday accused Algeria of “trying to humiliate France” after the North African nation refused to confess considered one of its nationals who was being deported.

The influencer was arrested within the metropolis of Montpellier on Sunday on fees of inciting violence in movies he posted on social media. French immigration officers put him on a flight to Algiers Thursday, however Algeria refused to confess him, saying he was banned from getting into its territory. He was lastly despatched again to France that night, the French inside ministry stated.

Police in France have in current days arrested 4 Algerian nationals described by authorities as social media influencers accused of posting movies inciting violence, in opposition to a backdrop of soured relations.

“I want to express my astonishment,” Retailleau stated Friday. “I think we’ve reached an extremely worrying threshold with Algeria. It’s clear that Algeria is trying to humiliate France.”

The two international locations have a turbulent relationship: Algeria, as soon as a French colony, shook off rule from Paris in 1962 after a brutal conflict.

Two different Algerian influencers have been arrested final week within the Alpine metropolis of Grenoble and the western port metropolis of Brest, whereas a feminine TikTok influencer was taken into police custody within the metropolis of Lyon on Thursday. She is accused of constructing “death threats” in opposition to opponents of the federal government in Algiers.

“There’s absolutely no question of giving free rein to the hatred of these individuals who are spreading antisemitism, murder etc.,” Retailleau stated. “Social networks are not a lawless zone.”

Retailleau additionally sharply criticized the detention since November of French-Algerian author Boualem Sansal in Algeria, who’s an outspoken critic of the Algerian authorities. Retailleau stated Sansal is “old and ill” and accused Algiers of protecting him in jail “for the fallacious causes.”

A shift final July in France’s decades-old place on the disputed Western Sahara area of northern Africa angered Algeria and prompted the withdrawal of its ambassador in Paris.