Algeria summons envoy to France over public TV documentaries

A documentary concerning Algeria’s demonstration movement on French TV has sparked not just another diplomatic deadlock between Algeria nation and France, but outrage among protesters themselves.

Algiers declared Wednesday it would summon its ambassador in Paris in objection at the film Algeria, My Love, aired by state-owned France 5 the previous evening.

Directed by French journalist of Algerian origin Mustapha Kessous, it used testimonies of five Algerians in their 20s to narrate the tale of the Hirak anti-government protest movement, which shook the country for most of last year.

The Algerian foreign ministry on Thursday announced in a declaration the two documentaries, while “seemingly spontaneous and under the pretext of the freedom of expression, are in fact attacks against the Algerian people and its institutions, including the National Armed Forces”.

On its part, France’s foreign ministry on Thursday said: “All media enjoy complete editorial independence, which is protected by law in France.”

The statement emphasised that France attaches “the highest importance” to “deep and old relations” between the two countries.

“France fully respects Algeria’s sovereignty,” it added.