Algeria: Momentum builds for pro-democracy Hirak movement, Algerians insist on end of regime

Posted On 5 March 2021

Number of times this article was read : 133
1204 issue: week ending 5 March 2021

UN urges Algeria to stop attacks on protesters

The United Nations on Friday voiced concern about an increasing crackdown on a pro-democracy protest movement in Algeria, highlighting hundreds of arrests in recent weeks and torture allegations. UN rights office spokesman Rupert Colville told reporters the rights situation was deteriorating and criticised the “continued and increasing crackdown on members of the pro-democracy Hirak movement”.
The rights office, he said, was urging Algerian authorities to free all those arbitrarily detained, stop using violence against peaceful protesters and cease arbitrary arrests. The office had “reliable information” indicating that hundreds of people had been detained since street protests resumed on February 13, after months of being forced online because of the pandemic.
The Hirak protest movement broke out in February 2019 in outrage at Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s bid for a fifth presidential term. The ageing leader was forced to step down weeks later, but the movement continued with twice-weekly demonstrations demanding sweeping reforms.

Torture, sexual violence

Colville warned that the latest developments echoed the reaction to the demonstrations in 2019 and 2020, when at least 2,500 people were detained. “Vaguely worded provisions of the Algerian penal code are being used to unduly restrict freedom of expression and prosecute people expressing dissenting opinions,” he warned, calling on authorities to repeal legal provisions being misused in this way.
A number of journalists have been arrested for covering or reporting on the protest movement, he said, adding that 16 independent online media outlets known for critical reporting had been blocked. At the same time, criminal prosecution of activists, students, journalists, bloggers and ordinary citizens had also continued, he said.
Colville said the rights office had received credible reports that some 1,000 people had been prosecuted for participating in the Hirak movement or for social media posts critical of the government. “We have also received allegations of torture and ill-treatment in detention, including sexual violence,” he said. The UN is calling for the authorities to promptly and impartially investigate all allegations of torture and other abuse in detention and hold perpetrators accountable.
AFP
Thousands demonstrated in Algeria’s capital and other cities Friday, AFP journalists said, as a revived protest movement takes root again in the North African country.   The movement, known locally as “Hirak”, first mobilised in February 2019 and within weeks forced then president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to abandon a bid for a fifth term and resign.   It called a halt to protests early last year as coronavirus restrictions took hold, but returned to the streets late last month to celebrate its second anniversary, protesting every Friday since.
“Hirak rallies will continue until this regime, which refuses to hear our voice, ceases to exist,” said Bilal, a 37-year-old civil servant who joined the protest in Algiers. Several marches converged in the early afternoon in the capital, following Friday prayers and amid a heavy police presence, while a helicopter hovered overhead.
“I hope that my children and grandchildren get to live in a better Algeria than the one I have lived through,” said Khadidja, a protester in her seventies.   She said she had taken part in every rally since the first one on February 22, 2019.
Journalist Khaled Drareni, recently freed after nearly a year in custody, covered Friday’s protests on his social media accounts.  Protesters lashed out at the intelligence services, accusing them of being “terrorists”. Detainees have alleged they were tortured in custody. Rallies also took place in cities including Oran and Tizi Ouzou.
Protesters see the regime as little changed from the one led by Bouteflika. Current President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, once a prime minister under Bouteflika and elected in a widely boycotted December 2019 presidential poll, has ostensibly reached out to the protest movement while seeking to neutralise it.
AFP
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