The Algerians were again in the thousands in the streets of Algiers on the occasion of the weekly protest marches against the power, Friday, April 23. This is increasing the arrests of opponents and demonstrators as the legislative elections loom on June 12.
Algerians demonstrated again on Friday during marches by the popular Hirak movement to demand an end to “injustice and (of) oppression.” They came at a time when the regime is stepping up its repression in the run-up to legislative elections.
Several thousand people took part in the weekly march in Algiers from the popular districts of Belouizdad (ex-Belcourt) and Bab El Oued, strongholds of the protest, as well as from the main thoroughfare Didouche Mourad.
The hirakists marched in the middle of a large deployment of the police force in the center of the capital and in front of the official buildings. However, no camera from news organizations was able to film the procession on Friday.
114th week of events
“Friday 114: Stop Violence, Injustice, and Repression“, was written on placards, in reference to the 114th week of demonstrations since the birth of the pro-democracy movement on February 22, 2019. “Violence, injustice and oppression“, it is “the recap of the week,” a septuagenarian told AFP.
Protesters also demanded “freedom for prisoners“. “Let them fast with us!” In this month of Ramadan, they chanted.
Sixty-six prisoners of conscience, prosecuted in connection with the Hirak and/or individual freedoms, are currently imprisoned in the country. More than 20 have been on hunger strike for 17 days.
“Manifest will to eliminate all democratic forces”
For their part, the authorities continue to target political opponents, activists, journalists, and Internet users, increasing the number of legal proceedings and convictions.
A journalist for the French-language daily Liberté, Rabah Karèche, was placed in pre-trial detention this week. The whistleblower, Noureddine Tounsi, was sentenced to one year in prison.
On Tuesday, security forces arrested eight people accused of “subversive activities” within a cultural association in Bab El Oued. According to the National Security, it would be financed by an unidentified foreign embassy.
The Interior Ministry announced that it had initiated legal proceedings against a small party of unapproved”, the Union for Change and Progress (UCP), which decided not to participate in the June elections.
The UCP responded on Friday in a statement, having acted” in accordance with the law governing parties political“. This party condemned “these practices which are part of a manifest desire of the government to eliminate all democratic forces from the political scene“. With the approach of the electoral campaign, the newspapers close to the government stigmatize “of the dark forces who want to sow chaos” in Algeria, denouncing “backward forces and occult organizations in the pay of foreign powers and roadmaps emanating from overseas“.
France targeted
As every Friday in Algiers, banners were deployed criticizing France, and President Emmanuel Macron as well as placards urging to boycott French products were deployed. The French head of state is accused of supporting an “illegitimate” Algerian president in the eyes of the demonstrators.
Gatherings also took place in Oran (north-west), Sétif (north-east), and Kabylia, in Béjaïa, Tizi Ouzou, and Bouira, and in other large provincial towns.
The National Committee for the Liberation of Prisoners (CNLD), an association that helps prisoners of conscience, reported ” very many arrests” and police violence at the time of the dispersal of the march in the early evening in Oran. Demonstrators were also arrested in Algiers, and some released at the end of the day.
The Hirak marches resumed at the end of February after a year of suspension because of the health crisis. They are taking place in a climate of increased repression while the government wants to impose its electoral “roadmap” via early legislative elections on June 12. “There are no elections“, notably repeated the demonstrators Friday.
