French police Forces Harshly Intervene To Prevent Algerians From Sports Celebrations!

French security and police services worked hard to prevent all legitimate manifestations of celebration by expatriate Algerians for their national football team’s victory in the Africa Cup of Nations finals, currently held in the Kingdom of Morocco, against their Congolese counterpart in the round of 16. They pursued them in French streets, in practices that contradict the considerations of freedom of celebration and demonstration in a country that claims to defend the values of “liberty, equality, and fraternity.”

On the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, January 6, 2026, security forces harshly intervened in several French cities, including the capital Paris, Lyon, Marseille, and Toulouse, to prevent Algerians from celebrating in the streets, as happens in various countries around the world. This information was reported by French newspapers, including “Le Parisien” and “Le Figaro,” as well as activists on social media.

“Le Parisien” reported cases of arrests of Algerians in Lyon. French politicians affiliated with the far-right exploited these celebrations in attempts to inflame the situation, among them Tiffany Joncour, a deputy from the National Rally party (formerly the National Front) led by Marine Le Pen, who posted videos on her Twitter account of some young people celebrating in public streets after Algeria’s victory over the Democratic Republic of Congo, and claimed that she was detained in the public street because of these celebrations, as she alleged.

“Le Figaro” indicated that the celebrating youth in the streets raised Algerian flags and some smoke flares. However, these reports did not mention any incidents of violence or assaults on passersby or car damage, which makes these celebrations peaceful and legitimate, as long as they did not cause damage to public or private property.

The French far-right had preempted the start of the national football team’s matches in the current Africa Cup by poisoning the atmosphere between Algerian fans and the French police.

Deputy Julien Odoul from the far-right party (National Rally) initiated a written question to the Minister of Interior, Laurent Nuñez, drawing his attention to what he described as “measures” to be taken to prevent any public disturbances that might occur during the Algerian national team’s matches in the Africa Cup of Nations, scheduled to be held from “December 21, 2025, to January 18, 2026,” in the Kingdom of Morocco, as he stated.

Although there are many large communities supporting the national teams of several African countries participating in the Africa Cup of Nations currently held in the Kingdom of Morocco, such as Tunisia, Morocco, Cameroon, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and others… the right-wing deputy’s question was limited only to targeting supporters of the Algerian national team, in a familiar and unjustified provocation.

This is not the first time that the right and far-right have targeted Algerian community fans supporting their national team over other communities. Politicians from this current, obsessed with everything Algerian, have previously tried to legalize the prohibition of Algerians from raising their country’s flags when celebrating their national team’s victory, in an attempt to disregard the reality of ethnic and religious diversity that characterizes French society, for known political and historical considerations.

The obsessions of this extremist current extend beyond considerations related to maintaining public security, to the dimension related to the accumulated political and historical backgrounds between Algeria and France, which have led to an unprecedented diplomatic crisis for more than two years.

These racist practices also contradict the values that Paris tries to promote, such as France being the cradle of freedoms, democracy, and fraternity, slogans that have lost much of their value in light of what is on the ground, where French people of Algerian origin are treated as if they are not French, despite being of French nationality.