PARIS (AP) – A police dragnet in France has led to three Algerian men described by authorities as social media influencers accused of posting videos inciting violence, against a backdrop of sour relations between Paris and the former his colony in North Africa.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau announced the latest arrest on Sunday afternoon – the third in as many days. A French media report that the minister said was linked to his post on X said the influencer uploaded a video to his 138,000 followers on TikTok that French authorities believed was anti-Semitic.
It was not immediately clear whether all those arrested were Algerian citizens living in France.
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The arrests in the Alpine city of Grenoble, Montpellier in the south of France and the port city of Brest in the west come amid a new strain in the already complicated relationship between France and Algeria, which ended French rule in 1962 after a brutal war.
Moved last July in the French situation decades ago the disputed region of Western Sahara in northern Africa angered Algeria and prompted the withdrawal of the ambassador in Paris.
The French government, meanwhile, has denied that Algeria has been held since November French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal. The 75-year-old author is an outspoken critic of the Algerian government.
The French government has not linked the tension with Algiers to the three arrests. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Sunday that France wants “the best relationship” with Algeria. But he said Paris is skeptical of the Algerian government's commitment agreements to be agreed in 2022 that was seen as important steps towards repairing their relationship.
The first Algerian influencer to be arrested, a 25-year-old man who had more than 400,000 followers on TikTok before his account was closed, was detained on Friday on suspicion of making comments that ' show sympathy for terrorism. Retailleau said the hitman had called on fans to carry out attacks in France.
Retailleau announced the arrest of another Algerian, who also described himself as a hitman, on Friday night. The minister said in a post that “he too will have to answer to the courts for vile comments on TikTok.”
