France accuses Algeria of ‘humiliation’ after deported influencer is denied entry

RFI

10 January 2025 at 11:15 am·1-min read

Several Algerian influencers in France are being held in custody after calling for violence on social media platforms including TikTok.

France has accused Algeria of trying to "humiliate" it by refusing entry to a deported social media influencer who allegedly incited violence. The comments by French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau are a further blow in increasingly strained relations between France and its former colony.

Algerian influencer "Doualemn" was arrested on Tuesday, 7 January in the southern French city of Montpellier, after posting a video on social media platform TikTok allegedly calling for violence against an Algerian anti-regime protester.

Doualemn was put on a plane to Algiers on Thursday afternoon, according to his lawyer Jean-Baptiste Mousset.

However, the French interior ministry said on Thursday evening that Algiers had "refused entry" to the 59-year-old, who is now in an administrative detention centre near Paris.

Three other influencers supportive of the Algerian authorities have also been arrested in recent days, over videos allegedly calling for violent acts in France.

Algerian social media influencers arrested in France for calling for violence

On the matter of the influencers, Retailleau said it was "out of the question to give a free pass to these individuals who spread hatred and anti-Semitism," adding that he believed France had reached an "extremely worrying threshold with Algeria".

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