The French Far-Right Movement Engages In  Racist Attack On The Algerians

The mysterious death of a French teenager, suspected of having been killed by an Algerian student, sparked off a wave of hostility against Algerian immigrants, fueled by the French right and far-right, with its rhetoric charged with hostility to everything that is Algerian, in a case that was politically exploited “without shame”, as the French Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne said.

The case took on political dimensions, although it is a public right issue, and the reason is that the suspect is an Algerian, who is in an illegal situation on French soil, after she joined France in 2016 on a visa to study, before an expulsion order was issued against her last August.

And the first to ride the wave of hostility and incitement against Algerians was the far-right Eric Zemmour, who preceded other French politicians in violating the duty not to rush into such positions, to write in a tweet: “of Algerian nationality and in an irregular (illegal) situation, this is official. Lola’s killer, he was not supposed to intersect with her on the road”, in a racist attack typical of him.

What came from the right-wing Zemmour, did not differ much from what another right-wing leader, the former “National Front” and the “National Rally” now, said, Marine Le Pen, who said that “the suspect in this barbaric act should not have been on French soil.” That was more than three years ago.”

Le Pen attacked the French government, represented by Prime Minister Elizabeth Borne, saying: “A lot of crimes are committed in France by illegal immigrants, we did not want them or did not know how to return them to their countries,” referring to the issue that was the reason for the reduction of visas granted by France for nationals of the Maghreb countries to be halved, under the pretext of their lack of cooperation in recovering their nationals who are due to be deported from France by judicial decisions.

The wave of hostility towards Algerians did not stop at the tragic incident of the teenager Lola, but the extreme right gave her another, more dangerous dimension, when he criticized the honoring of French President Emmanuel Macron for the French player of Algerian origin, Karim Benzema, who won the Golden Ball, as well as his commemoration of the 61st anniversary of the demonstrations of October 17, 1961, in which hundreds of Algerians drowned and were killed by the sinister Maurice Papon’s police in Paris, on the pretext that he had not received the victim’s parents. However, the Elysee Palace soon announced that Macron would receive the family of the slain girl.

While the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, strongly criticized the extreme right’s exploitation of this heinous crime, and the attempt to use it politically against immigrants and the Algerian community in particular, calling not to exploit the tragedy, French Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti described “the political exploitation of the killing of a 12-year-old girl, a disgrace.” upon its owners!

However, despite the government’s failure to go along with the far-right’s criticism of illegal immigrants, government spokesman Olivier Veran stressed Wednesday that the government must “do better” about expelling illegal immigrants, after they were accused by the right and the far-right in this case.

The French official defended his government’s position, saying: “We are working hard to ensure that the deportations have positive effects,” but “it is clear that we must do better,” noting that the level of compliance with decisions to leave French soil is the maximum known in the period of the five years of former President Nicolas Sarkozy, known for his hostility towards immigrants, especially towards the Algerian community.