In a move that has startled both analysts and diplomatic observers, Algeria’s national television aired a report accusing France of maintaining a “colonial occupation” in Brittany, denouncing alleged cultural oppression and growing insecurity in the western French region. The claim, widely seen as absurd and unfounded, comes amid a surge in disinformation campaigns targeting Paris.
The broadcast painted a dramatic picture of Brittany as a region “crushed by Parisian centralism,” where Breton culture is said to be “systematically stifled by the French state.” The narrator even referred to a so-called “French occupation” that prevents Bretons from “reclaiming their destiny.”
The report cited no independent sources, relying instead on archival footage, stylized maps, and accusatory commentary.
According to insider sources, this is seen as yet another “episode of hostile propaganda,” with the Algerian military regime deliberately fueling anti-French rhetoric to serve internal political purposes.
“These claims are grotesque and completely disconnected from the democratic reality of France. Brittany is a fully integrated region of the Republic, with elected institutions, a dynamic economy, and a thriving cultural life,” stated a French Member of Parliament.
International relations experts see this media attack as part of a broader strategy of “information warfare,” aimed at undermining France’s image abroad while reinforcing, within Algeria, the narrative of a regime positioning itself as a defender of peoples “oppressed” by the West.
“Claiming that Brittany is under occupation is baseless, but it serves an ideological purpose: discrediting France.”
Both in France and abroad, the broadcast is being viewed as a desperate attempt to deflect attention from Algeria’s internal troubles: an ongoing economic crisis, rising social unrest, and increasing diplomatic isolation.
France is reportedly beginning to see the Algerian regime as a serious, even dangerous, threat to national security on its own soil—due to the actions and methods of Algerian intelligence services under General Saïd Chengriha and President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, as discussed during a recent French Defense Council meeting focused on Algeria.