A 14-year-old Algerian boy, identified as Hamza F, has drawn widespread attention in France after routinely harassing tourists and locals near Paris’s Saint-Martin Canal by spraying them with a water blaster.
Calling himself Hamza La Douane (Hamza from Customs), he demands $2.29 (about €2) from those who want to avoid being targeted.
Law enforcement records suggest his conduct is part of a broader pattern of juvenile delinquency, including incidents of vandalism, theft, and aggression involving women, for which he has been arrested multiple times.
The case has sparked heated public discourse in France, with some questioning how he has been allowed to remain at large, while others have pointed to a lack of parental responsibility.
A Teen accused of troubling people near Saint-Martin Canal with a water toy was arrested twice within a week
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Hamza is often seen shirtless along the Saint-Martin Canal, where he blackmails people into giving him money.
On June 30, he told the French newspaper Le Parisien that he got this idea from corrupt customs officers in his home country.
“In Algeria, when you pay the customs officers, they don’t search you. You can go on,” he shared.
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The teen showed little remorse for his actions, saying that “most of the time” he does not apologize to those he sprays and simply runs away.
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His aggressive acts towards women include recording himself pushing a bikini-clad woman into a canal despite her apparent resistance, as well as unlawfully entering another woman’s residence.
His thefts, meanwhile, have included him taking a bar stool, a can of soda, mobile phones, and other items.
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While Hamza has reportedly been arrested 10 times since June 2025, his last two detentions came on June 27, when he was busted for vandalism, and on July 1, on charges of aggravated theft, insulting officers, and resisting arrest, respectively.
CNews, another French newspaper, reported that on July 2, Hamza recorded himself on the Saint-Martin Canal joking that “there was air conditioning” at the police station.
Hamza’s parents have remained equally unapologetic about his behavior, with his mom even framing him as the victim
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Speaking to Le Parisien on the same day as his son, Hamza’s father, who remained anonymous, described him as “a nice boy” who “doesn’t hurt anyone.”
Hamza agreed with his father’s statement in an interview with CNews, saying, “He leaves me alone because he knows I’m not doing anything bad. All I do is water people from time to time.”
His mother, who is a personal care assistant, meanwhile described the backlash he has been receiving as a “racially motivated act.”
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Elsa Marcel, a lawyer who described herself as a “socialist” and defended Hamza in his latest arrest, made a similar claim in a press release shared on Thursday, July 2.
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“For several days, Hamza F, a 14-year-old boy, has been the victim of a torrent of racist hatred following a media offensive initiated by far-right figures,” she said.
“A child’s water fights and games have thus become, in the span of a few hours, a national controversy.”
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The attorney noted that her client was called names like “s**m” and “thug.”
She added that he has been the target of “hostile messages, threats, and posts that violate his dignity on social media.”
Marcel threatened to file a complaint against anyone who would insult the teen in the future.
French politicians appeared divided over who should bear the responsibility of disciplining Hamza
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“How long are we going to tolerate this?” French National Assembly member Julien Odoul asked the government on X.
“In a normal world, the authorities would already have contacted Hamza’s parents and threatened to suspend their welfare benefits.
“But in France, this young person quickly understands that there is no one to stop him: not his parents, the authorities, the police, or the criminal justice system,” he voiced in another post.
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Pouria Amirshahi, a Parisian councilor and former police officer, on the other hand, noted it is not right to “expect everything from the state.”
“I think at some point we are going to have to make parents responsible,” he said, adding, “It is easy to have children, but sometimes you have to take responsibility for them.”
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Parisians have also expressed frustration with Hamza, with one siding with Odoul and asking him to be “stripped of public welfare benefits” and sent back to his country.
“Well, that’s one way to make international headline,” a netizen said
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