Algeria: the street maintains the pressure for the last Friday of manifestation before the return

Algerians have not relaxed the pressure on power all summer long. Friday, August 30, for the 28th consecutive week of demonstrations in the country, they have once again parade in number before the return, at which time the protesters hope to remobilize massively. Algeria is still at an impasse, with two camps facing each other in seemingly irreconcilable positions.

>> To read: After six months of protest in Algeria, the "revolution" in deadlock

"Are tired of generals!"

On the one hand, power, embodied by the military high command that has taken de facto orders since the resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on April 2 and refuses any other way out of the crisis than a presidential election to elect his successor.

On the other hand, the "Hirak", the unprecedented protest movement born on February 22, which managed to remain mobilized despite the heat and the holidays and rejects any vote organized by those who supported the deposed Head of State during his 20 years of presidency.

"There are tired of the generals!", "Down with the military regime!" Friday chanted the protesters in Algiers. There have also been marches in several other cities across the country, according to news sites and social networks. The processions, especially in Algiers, dispersed without incident in the late afternoon.

"The people want a transition period," the protesters claimed, reiterating their demand that former Abdelaziz Bouteflika's followers leave power, headed by current acting president Abdelkader Bensalah and the chief of staff. of the army, General Ahmed Gaïd Salah.

Monday, the latter considered "imperative to accelerate" the preparations for the presidential election to begin "in the coming weeks".

Constrained, for lack of serious candidates, to cancel the vote initially scheduled on July 4, the power has set up a "National Forum of dialogue" to consult and propose modalities to ensure the sincerity of the vote.

Led by the former president of the lower house Karim Younès, she struggles to establish its legitimacy with the "Hirak" which accuses former followers of Abdelaziz Bouteflika for orchestrating electoral fraud for 20 years and sees in this election than a means for the "system" to maintain power.

"It's the 28th Friday and the people are still in the street to demand the departure of Ahmed Gaïd Salah.It also rejects the dialogue led by Karim Younès," said Said, 54-year-old employee in the procession of Algiers , where the affluence seemed stronger than in July and August.

According to Mohamed Mansour, a 54-year-old trader, "we have provided 'permanence' during the summer, but at the beginning of the school year, with the return of those who have gone on holiday, the mobilization will resume again."

arrests

If the army rejected the "appeasement measures" demanded by the "dialogue forum" to facilitate discussions - alleviation of the security apparatus in Algiers during the demonstrations, release of those arrested during the marches - the police deployment seemed Friday less impressive than the previous weeks in the capital, according to an AFP journalist.

But the bans in recent days of the summer university of the civic association Rassemblement action jeunesse (RAJ) and a meeting of the coalition of the Alternative Democratic, both opposed to the organization of the presidential by the power, have shown that the latter intended to remain firm.

Friday, several protesters were again arrested before the official start of the procession, reported on Twitter Said Salhi, vice president of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LAADH).

The protesters also called for the release of those arrested during the demonstrations, including Lakdhar Bouregaa, a former military leader of the 86-year-old War of Independence who has been detained since 30 June and charged with "contempt" and violation of the law. morale of the army for publicly criticizing General Gaid Salah.

The "National Committee for the release of detainees", created in recent days around families and lawyers of "prisoners of Hirak", lists forty, some in prison since June, accused in particular "of attacking national unity" for brandishing Amazigh (Berber) flags.

After several episodes of social unrest during the summer in several parts of Algeria, Samir Larabi, an activist of the Socialist Workers' Party (PST), believes that at the start of the year "the social protest can tie up with Hirak" and boost the contestation.

With AFP