Several thousand Algerians demonstrated this Thursday, October 19, across the country in support of Palestine, while popular gatherings have been strictly regulated, if not banned, since 2021.
Algerians are returning to street protests, but only to express solidarity with Palestine and denounce Israel. Several thousand people demonstrated this Thursday, October 19 in Algiers and other cities across the country. The first spontaneous demonstration took place on Friday, October 13, and was barely tolerated by the authorities. Who, this time, ended up authorizing, and even encouraging the event, launched at the initiative of political parties and organizations known to be close to power.
In Algiers, which experienced peaceful demonstrations attracting millions of people every Friday during the “blessed Hirak”, tens of thousands of men, women, and children marched from the Place du 1er-May until Martyrs’ Square. The roads were closed to allow the march to go smoothly.
Palestinian flags alongside Algerian colors, placards, and banners… The Algerians demonstrated peacefully, as at the time of Hirak. Slogans in favor of the Palestinian cause and against the crimes committed by the Israeli army rang out along the procession, dotted with banners demanding the expulsion of ambassadors whose countries support Israel.
Former President Liamine Zeroual took part in a march in Batna, in the east, where he has lived since his retirement, in April 1999. The demonstrations, which were broadcast live on national television, dispersed throughout calm.
Call for the expulsion of diplomats
A large police force was deployed in several districts of the capital, while security was reinforced around Western embassy buildings. This unusual device is explained in particular by calls launched on social networks for sit-ins to be held in front of chancelleries representing countries which some criticize for supporting Israel. Messages calling for the expulsion of diplomats whose countries are allied to the “Zionist entity” were also broadcast and massively relayed the day before the demonstration on Facebook, X (former Twitter) and TikTok.
An unconditional ally of Palestine, Algeria has been increasing gestures of solidarity since the start of the a a conflict between Israel and Hamas. On Wednesday, October 18, the presidency announced the cancellation of the working visit that President Tebboune was to make to the wilaya (prefecture) of Djelfa, 350 km south of Algiers following “dangerous developments occurring in the territories occupied by Palestinians due to the continuation of the savage and devastating Zionist bombings against the Gaza Strip. This trip by the Head of State to the interior of the country was, however, a first since his election in December 2019.
Cultural and festive events are suspended in the country until further notice, as are sports competitions. The Foreign Ministry also asked Algerian embassies and consulates abroad to cancel November 1 commemoration ceremonies, which each year celebrate the outbreak of the 1954 war of independence.
This is the first time that the authorities have issued authorizations for street demonstrations after their ban in June 2021. At the time, the government announced that any demonstration would henceforth be prohibited if it did not have prior authorization , issued on the condition that the organizers communicate their identity, as well as the times of the gathering.
The shadow of Hirak
Before this ban, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Algiers every Friday, continuing the Hirak protests of 2019 which led to the fall of President Bouteflika’s regime . These demonstrations came to a halt with the Covid pandemic, before resuming in February 2021, only to be banned less than four months later.
Are the demonstrations on Thursday October 19 the prelude to the return of the major popular marches, or do they constitute a short parenthesis in this security tightening ratified in spring 2021? Difficult to say.
This is because the government has no interest in lifting, neither today nor tomorrow, the ban on demonstrating and gathering if it wants to avoid the expression of protests which could become more and more virulent in the next months. Deterioration of purchasing power, social and political stagnation, stifling of public freedoms… There are multiple reasons which could bring Algerians back onto the streets. The government has all the less interest in loosening the security grip and authorizing social and political protest since in a year the next presidential election will be held in which Abdelmadjid Tebboune should probably run for a second term .
