France and Algeria (1)
01 January 1991
France and Algeria
artdoc March=1995
A similar process of criminalising dissent is being conducted by
the French authorities in relation to Algerians seeking asylum
or simply living in France. In a second wave of coordinated
pre-dawn raids, 300 special police arrested 95 suspected Islamic
activists, and claimed to have found an arms cache in a
south-east Paris suburb. Interior minister Charles Pasqua, known
for the virulence of his anti-Arab policies, claimed that links
had been discovered with the Armed Islamic Group, of which those
arrested were allegedly members, and fundamentalist groups in the
UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Canada. 77 of those
arrested were later charged with terrorist-related offences.
If Pasqua's government is anti-fundamentalist, though, it
offers little comfort to secular Algerians trying to flee the
country. All consulates in Algeria are closed in response to the
war there and the fear of a flood of refugees. Applications for
visas have to go to a special office in Nantes. Academics and
journalists have been assassinated, either by the government
forces or by hard-line fundamentalist group members, while
awaiting visas to enable them to get out of Algeria.
Independent, 4, 9, 15 & 18.11.94.
Statewatch, Vol 4 no 6, November-December 1994