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Algeria: 230 firefighters dismissed for protesting

While the firefighters demand better wages, their protest in Algiers on May 2, deemed illegal, was violently blocked by the police.

The authorities’ reaction did not drag on, the day after the demonstration of hundreds of Civil Protection agents in the streets of Algiers on Sunday, May 2. 230 officers were suspended for breaking the law. This march was violently blocked by the police as it made its way to the presidential palace. “They hit us and used tear gas. We did nothing. We did not break anything, ” testified a firefighter in a video posted on the internet.

The Algerian government has therefore chosen confrontation, while since mid-April, wage demands have agitated the firefighter units of all the wilayas (prefectures). As early as Sunday, May 2, the Interior Ministry issued a statement in which it described the firefighters’ march as “illegal” and referred to “a plot against the country”. Firefighters, like police officers, are bound by a duty of reserve, and can neither strike nor demonstrate. But the sanctions do not end there, the agents will also be prosecuted.

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“A plot against the country”

The dialectic employed by the Ministry of the Interior is also indicative of the tension that reigns. In a statement, the ministry asks the firefighters to stop their movement “fed by parties serving agendas hostile to Algeria”.

Same story with the Directorate General of Civil Protection, urging all officers “to show discipline and a high sense of responsibility, and not to give in to subversive publications aimed at sowing confusion and chaos and undermine the stability of the homeland. “

Salary claims

Here then is the Algerian power confronted with a new front, while the social protest widens in the public service: education, tax administration, railroads, and health. A new call to demonstrate has also been launched for May 9 in Algiers, in response to the “false” press release from the ministry.

Because the movement of firefighters is above all social.

The agents went to the Directorate of Civil Protection in Algiers on May 2, 2021. They also demanded the release of one of their colleagues arrested during a previous demonstration.  (BILLAL BENSALEM / NURPHOTO)

The agents went to the Directorate of Civil Protection in Algiers on May 2, 2021. They also demanded the release of one of their colleagues arrested during a previous demonstration.

The firefighters complain of a derisory base salary set at 15,000 dinars, while the guaranteed minimum wage in Algeria is 20,000 dinars (around 125 euros). The index point has not been raised for years, and working hours regularly reach 80 hours per week denounce the firefighters.

The Directorate General of Civil Protection assured that these claims had been raised and “that a commission is looking into their examination”. An attempt to calm the spirits while on Twitter some dream of seeing the firefighters join the Hirak movement.

https://twitter.com/madjidben6028/status/1388883585470451714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1388883585470451714%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.francetvinfo.fr%2Fmonde%2Fafrique%2Falgerie%2Falgerie-230-pompiers-mis-a-pied-pour-avoir-manifeste_4610531.html
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