France: Algeria Refused to Accept Mulhouse Attacker 10 Times

The man arrested for the stabbing attack in Mulhouse, France this week has been identified as Brahim Abdessemed, an Algerian national who was illegally in the country. Worse yet, he had been previously arrested for making terroristic threats, but Algeria reportedly refused to accept him back on ten occasions. The Interior Minister, Bruno Retailleau, is angry and is speaking out against Algeria now that one person, a Portuguese national, is dead and seven others are injured.

But the Foreign Minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, is taking a softer tone and urges diplomacy.

The below article from Le Point is translated by Fousesquawk.

Bruno Retailleau wants a “balance of power with Algeria” Jean-Noel Barrot softens (the tone)

After the attack committed in Mulhouse by an Algerian national under OQTF( Obligation to leave French territory), the minister of Interior raises the tone while that of the foreign minister advocates diplomacy.

By Lucile Briere for Le Point

Posted 23 February 2025 at 15:21

“Once again, Islamist terrorism has struck,” declared the minister of Interior, Bruno Retailleau, on Saturday, 22 February, a few hours after a knife attack in Mulhouse. One man is dead, and seven other  persons were injured- two surveillance officers and five municipal police officers, according to the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat), which has taken over and opened an investigation.

Before committing the act, the individual shouted, “Allahu Akhbar“. Almost immediately after the attack, and from the Agricultural Show, Emmanuel Macron evoked an “Islamist terrorist act, which is beyond doubt.”

Bruno Retailleau wants to “establish a balance of power”

According to sources contacted by Le Point, the attacker, Brahim A., is an Algerian born in April 1987. Known to the courts for supporting terrorism, the man is under (OQTF) and under judicial supervision. The suspect had already been placed in an administrative detention center (CRA) and was released in June 2024 at the end of the maximum legal period of 90 days because Algeria had not issued the consular pass that would have permitted his expulsion.

According to Bruno Retailleau, Algeria refused “ten times” to receive its national. “No country has the right to humiliate France,” he said to JT 20 hours (TF1), a few hours after the attack. “We have to “establish a balance of power,” with Algeria, as to visas and bilateral agreements.

Jean-Noel Barrot advocates “exigent” cooperation

On Sunday, 23 February, on the set of CNews and Europe 1, the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noel Barrot, tempered the time and advocated diplomacy. “What is of interest to us is the security of the French people, not the balance of power for the sake of the balance of power……  When we act unilaterally and say, “I am stopping with the visas,” that doesn’t work. We act through diplomacy with a range of tools we talk about and others that we don’t talk about .”

The minister evoked the 2022 agreement. “In 2022, we signed a very stringent agreement of cooperation with Algeria, and we have tripled the number of repatriations to the border.”

Jean-Noel Barrot announced that the government was going to convene an inter-ministerial council on control of immigration on Wednesday

Source: http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/2025/02/france-algeria-refused-to-accept.html