Algeria and its long shadow in the French unrest

Social unrest and destabilisation have hit France. For several days now, there have been serious protests and riots in various parts of the Gallic country following the controversy over the death of a 17-year-old teenager in Nanterre, one of the suburbs of the capital Paris, after he was shot by a French policeman when the young man did not stop at a police checkpoint.  

When the facts became known, many people took to the streets and riots broke out with protest tinges denouncing police abuses in France and the existing racism, taking into account that the minor killed in Nanterre was of Algerian origin. In addition to Paris, urban violence spread to many suburbs of the main French cities, with a strong presence of people belonging to immigrant families, mainly Arabs, who showed their fury after the murder of the young Nahel.  

In the last six days since Nahel's death, there have been serious riots with looting, arson and assaults on schools, town halls and various public buildings by thousands of citizens, many of them young people of foreign origin, which has been a real challenge to the French state. 

According to media outlets such as Maghreb Intelligence, the Algerian government, which has had strong disputes with the French government in recent times, could have used this whole current to destabilise the French administration. The postponement of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune's visit to France in May and June did not go down well in Algeria. The state visit that Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune was scheduled to make on 2 May was cancelled on the Algerian side due to a decision by the Algerian army leadership, for many the real power in the North African country. Meanwhile, the cancellation of the June visit came from the French side, where various sectors of the French administration consider that the Algerian president does not meet the criteria for a state visit to Paris. Among the reasons why Tebboune is not wanted in France are human rights violations and the repression of Algerian opponents.  

According to various sources consulted by Maghreb Inteligence, Algiers is planning a perverse strategy to take advantage of this urban violence and the popular anger that has arisen in the French suburbs following the tragic death of the young Nahel in Nanterre. For Algiers, the crisis that has shaken France could be an unexpected opportunity to reposition itself on the French political scene and intensify its influence on the Algerian diaspora, which forms the largest foreign community established on French soil. The Algerian regime has reportedly turned this crisis into an 'opportunity' to target the most anti-Algerian lobbies in France, an Algerian security source told Maghreb-intelligence. These pressure groups include the French police and intelligence services and the Ministry of the Interior itself, which do not offer the Algerian state any help in controlling all opponents of the Algerian government on French territory, according to Algeria itself. 

First of all, on 27 June, when Nahel's death shocked the Maghreb community in France, Algiers instructed its embassy in Paris and its diplomatic offices in the main French cities to get fully "involved" in managing the crisis, quickly contacting the victim's relatives and making full use of his "Algerian origins", according to Maghreb Intelligence. On 29 June, Algerian diplomacy even issued a communiqué stating that the Algerian government was keeping a close eye on the case and was following 'very closely' developments in the case of Nahel's 'brutal and tragic' death in France.  

According to this information, the Algerian government is said to have used the trump card of denouncing alleged racism within the French police force to stir up all those citizens who are members of Algerian families in order to cause problems for the French administration. All this was channelled through Algerian diplomatic delegations on French soil. According to Maghreb Intellgence, the Security Office of the Algerian Consulate in Nanterre, one of the most important Algerian consulates in the French capital, Paris, and members of the consular service were instructed on 28 June to contact the family of the deceased Nahel and to take a position in all popular actions demanding truth or justice for the death of the teenager, whom Algerian diplomacy quickly presented as a member of the Algerian community established in France, although his relationship with the Algerian country was superficial. 

In this context, on 29 June, the day of the White March for Nahel organised in Nanterre, many Algerian diplomats openly assumed their participation in this protest action against the "racism of the French police", according to Maghreb Intelligence.  

In this vein, the marches in France protesting Nahel's murder were widely reported in the Algerian media, portraying the Algerian diaspora community as victims of abuse and racism by French police officers.