An Algerian social media activist has been arrested in France accused of calling for attacks

PARIS (AP) – French police on Friday arrested an Algerian social media activist accused of calling on his followers to carry out attacks in France, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said.

The arrest in the Brittany port city of Brest on France's west coast comes as the country prepares to mark the 10th anniversary next week of the January 2015 attacks in Paris against the blasphemy newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a department store.

On January 7, 2015, two French-born al-Qaida extremists stormed the Charlie Hebdo newsroom and killed 12 people, including the editor-in-chief, cartoonists and a policeman on a nearby street. Two days later, an Islamic State-affiliated colleague shot and killed a female police officer, then raided a supermarket in eastern Paris, killing four hostages. All three gunmen died in the exchange of fire with the police.

In a text published in X, Retailleau said the Algerian activist arrested in Brest used the pseudonym “Zazouyoussef” and “asked his community to attack France.”

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

French police said a 25-year-old Algerian-born activist was arrested on suspicion of expressing sympathy for terrorism. Police say he was ordered to leave France last year after his residency papers expired.

Another man, who has Algerian residency papers, was arrested along with the organizer, also on suspicion of sympathizing with terrorism, the police said.

French media say Zazouyoussef has more than 400,000 followers on the closed TikTok account. They said he posted a video threatening violence against those who oppose the Algerian government.