France warns Algeria against escalation of influencers showdown [Video]

France threatened on Friday to “retaliate” if Algeria escalates a diplomatic row that has flared up over the arrests of Algerian social media influencers accused of inciting violence.

Tensions between France and its former colony mounted after Algeria on Thursday sent back a suspect who had been arrested and expelled for a video posted on TikTok.

They had already heated up over the detention in Algerian of a leading Franco-Algerian writer.

France’s interior minister Bruno Retailleau on Friday accused Algeria of trying to humiliate France over the writer.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot threatened restrictions to visas or development aid, telling LCI television that France would have “no option but to retaliate” if “the Algerians continue to escalate” the row.

– TikTok influencers arrested –

Former prime minister Gabriel Attal said that France should cancel a 1968 accord with Algeria that gives Algerians special rights to live and work in France because of the dispute over …