Hundreds of women demonstrated in Algiers on Monday, demanding the repeal of the family code, as part of the International Women’s Day, but also in the continuity of the pro-democracy movement of Hirak in full revival.
Behind a banner stating “March 8, 2021: we went out for change, not to party”, the procession left from rue Didouche-Mourad, the main thoroughfare in the city center, towards Place de la Grande Post, emblematic meeting place of the Hirak.
“Women get involved,” + the system clears + “, they chanted denouncing the family code which, according to feminists, makes them” minors for life “, noted AFP journalists .
They held up placards which read: “Repeal of the code of infamy” and “Gender equality”.
Adopted in 1984 under the reign of the single party and revised in 2005, the family code is partly inspired by sharia (Islamic law). Many associations for the defense of women’s rights consider it unconstitutional on the grounds that it does not respect the equality of citizens set out in the Constitution.
In the procession, marched Louisette Ighilhariz, fighter of the war of independence, immensely respected, now 84 years old and activist of the Hirak.
The demonstrators condemned violence against women, with portraits of victims of feminicides.
Algeria Feminicides has identified more than fifty cases of murder of women for the year 2020, and more than seventy in 2019, a figure well below the reality according to this collective.
The activists of the “feminist square”, who take part in each weekly Hirak demonstration, and the mothers of the disappeared from the civil war (1992-2002), also involved in the popular protest movement, took part in the mobilization.
“Our rights are always and everywhere”, one could read on a poster of the “feminist square”, which featured photos of former fighters of the War of Independence (1954-1962).
– “Freedom” –
Beyond the egalitarian demands, the demonstrators also castigated a recent controversial draft law which provides for the deprivation of Algerian nationality from any national committing abroad “acts detrimental to the interests of the State”.
“You do not scare us with the forfeiture of nationality, we were brought up in patriotism,” she sang.
This initiative by the Minister of Justice, Belkacem Zeghmati, triggered an outcry among political opponents and Hirak activists who see it as a means of controlling the vast Algerian diaspora.
In addition, the women’s parade also took up the traditional Hirak slogans such as “Tebboune (editor’s note: the Algerian president) arrived (in power) by fraud, he was placed by the military” or “Civil status and not Military state “.
Brief shoves took place at the end of the protest after police officers forced the protesters out of the city center, witnesses said.
Demonstrations also took place in Tizi Ouzou and Béjaïa in Kabylie (east). The demonstrators, accompanied by a few men, carried Algerian flags and chanted “We demand freedom” or “Family code in the trash”, according to local and social media.
Tens of thousands of Algerians took to the streets of Algiers and other cities in the country, confirming the resumption of the Hirak mobilization since the 2nd anniversary of the pro-democracy movement on February 22.
