Algerian social media influencer detained in France accused of calling for attacks

PARIS — French police on Friday detained a social media influencer from Algeria who is accused of calling on his followers to carry out attacks in France, Interior Minster Bruno Retailleau said.

The arrest in the Brittany port city of Brest on France's western coast comes as the country is preparing to mark the 10th anniversary next week of deadly January 2015 attacks in Paris against the satirical Charlie Hebdo newspaper and a kosher supermarket.

On Jan. 7, 2015, two French-born al-Qaida extremists stormed Charlie Hebdo's newsroom and killed 12 people, including the chief editor, cartoonists and a policeman in a nearby street. Over the next two days, an associate invoking the Islamic State group shot a policewoman to death, then stormed the supermarket in eastern Paris, killing four hostages. All three gunmen died in shootouts with police.

In a post on X, Retailleau said the Algerian influencer arrested in Brest used the pseudonym “Zazouyoussef” and “called on his community to commit attacks in France."

The suspect “will have to answer for his actions before the courts,” the minister posted.

French police said the 25-year-old Algeria-born influencer was detained on suspicion of expressing sympathy for terrorism. Police said he had been ordered last year to leave France after his residency papers expired.

Another man, with Algerian residency papers, was detained along with the influencer, also on suspicion of expressing sympathy for terrorism, police said.

French media said Zazouyoussef had more than 400,000 followers on a TikTok account that has been closed down. They said he posted video threatening violence against opponents of the Algerian government.