French Far Right Provokes Algerians at AFCON’s Onset

The French far right began poisoning the atmosphere in France by targeting the Algerian community specifically, on the eve of the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco.

This was revealed in a written question from an MP of the National Rally party, formerly known as the National Front, led by Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella.

The written question, numbered 11761, was prepared by MP Julien Odoul and addressed to the French Interior Minister, Laurent Nuñez. In it, the right-wing MP preemptively makes racist and sweeping accusations against the Algerian community, alleging their involvement in acts of violence whenever the Algerian national football team participates in official competitions and achieves victories.

The same question, checked out by Echorouk, reads: “Julien Odoul draws the attention of the Interior Minister to the measures planned to prevent public disorder that may occur on the sidelines of the matches of the Algerian national team during the Africa Cup of Nations football tournament, scheduled from December 21, 2025, to January 18, 2026”, in the Kingdom of Morocco.

The questioner claims that only members of the Algerian community are responsible for the chaos: “As this competition approaches, a well-known fact deserves to be stated frankly: only the Algerian team provokes scenes of chaos in France after its matches, particularly when it wins. No other African team, neither Senegal, nor Cameroon, nor Mali, for example, gives rise to such excesses, violence, and provocations against the republican order. The example of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations remains fresh in everyone’s mind. During the semi-final and then after Algeria’s victory, riots broke out in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Grenoble, and Montpellier.”

The far-right MP, known for his hate speech against Algeria, spoke of dozens of French cops being injured, but he ignored the harm inflicted on Algerians by the security services, as well as the provocations of the latter, who tried to prevent Algerians from celebrating their national team’s victory in the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt about six years ago. They also prevented them from raising Algerian flags in French streets to celebrate this victory, a stance that was neither legally nor politically justified.

Julien Odoul and other members of the National Rally party are aware of the ethnic and cultural diversity of French society, a fact rooted in well-known historical considerations. Yet, they insist that French citizens of Algerian descent refrain from celebrating the victories of their ancestral national team. They even advocate for their complete assimilation into French society, a position contradicting the principle of religious and ethnic diversity in the French state, whose constitution guarantees freedom of expression and religion.

In anticipation of the Africa Cup of Nations, a far-right MP is pressurising the French Interior Minister to use force against the members of the Algerian community if they decide to celebrate their national team’s victory. He argues, “The repetition of such events is not inevitable. It is the result of a deliberate abandonment of republican authority, of an ideological laxity that confuses tolerance with shirking responsibility.”

The MP then asked the Interior Minister whether additional personnel will be deployed in a targeted manner in urban centres identified as being at risk during the evenings of matches of the Algerian team and whether a coordination mechanism between the prefects, the intelligence services and the municipal police is planned to prevent any disturbance to public order,” drawing the Minister’s attention to the fact that the Algerian team will face Equatorial Guinea on Tuesday, December 31, 2025, starting at 5 p.m., a few hours before the traditional New Year’s celebrations.

He also asked about “the Government’s strategy to ensure that football is not, once again, exploited for ideological or political ends and that the symbols of the Republic are not targeted in the name of a self-proclaimed communitarianism,” as he claimed, in an unjustified interpretation of the spontaneous celebrations by youth who have the right to celebrate their team’s victory.