Youcef Aziria, better known by his nickname “Zazou Youcef”, has created a large community on social networks and in particular Tiktok, where he is followed by more than 400,000 people, enough to make him an “influencer”.
Enough to also give significant visibility to the two videos posted in recent days, which led to his arrest this Friday, January 3, shortly after 6 a.m., as announced by the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau on the social network X.
Calls to shoot New Year's revelers
In the first of these two videos, Zazou Youcef calls in Arabic to shoot people preparing to celebrate the New Year. In the second, he reaffirms his words, while he walks in the streets of Brest, a city in which he was arrested.
These two videos were reported numerous times by users, leading to the suspension of the influencer's Tiktok account by the platform. Statements which led to him being placed in police custody for advocating terrorism and inciting people to commit crimes.
Involved in the riots of summer 2023
The man is already known to the courts for acts committed in Brest, in June 2023, on the sidelines of the riots following the death of Nahel. At the beginning of summer 2023, the death of the teenager, killed by police shooting following a refusal to comply, led to riots in several cities in France including Brest.
On the night of June 29 to 30, the city's tennis club was partly set on fire by rioters, one of whom posted a selfie. Identified by his DNA fingerprint left on the cap of a fireworks mortar, Youcef Aziria was tried six months later for damaging the property of others by means dangerous to people and obstructing the arrival of help to combat a sinister, reports Le Télégramme, a journalist of which attended the hearing. As the local newspaper reported, the man aged 24 at his trial was sentenced to 12 months in prison.
Targeted by an OQTF and support from the Algerian president
According to Le Figaro, the Algerian influencer was subject to an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF), issued by the Finistère prefecture in the spring of 2024. “Zazou Youcef” was also already known to the police for various crimes such as thefts from the trailer.
In the incriminated videos, Zazou Youcef notably called for violent attacks on opponents of the Algerian regime. “You want to go out on January 1st? Shoot them, we have to let the powder speak. President Tebboune (the Algerian president, editor's note), shoot them, they want chaos (…) We will shoot you (…) We will rape you (…). Shoot, we will bury them with the Jews,” he says to the people who will demonstrate against the Algerian regime in Algeria and in France, even though diplomatic relations are between them. France and Algeria have worsened since the arrest in mid-November of the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal.
