Friday 31 of the movement of Algeria .. The army prevents and the people challenge

Hamza Otaibi - Algeria

Before midday on Friday, an unusual silence over the center of the Algerian capital was overshadowed by a heavy movement of policemen, some of them lingering in front of vehicles lined up along Abdelkrim Khattabi Street.

Once the sun disk leveled in the sky, the Algerians poured into the streets of the city center, and the crowds grew remarkably immediately after Friday prayers as a human flood.

The 31st Friday was extraordinary and different from previous gatherings because it followed the announcement by the head of state of the presidential election scheduled for December 12.

"Random" Help
Her extraordinary position was a response to instructions from Algerian Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Ahmed Kayed Saleh calling for "seizures" and "fines" on buses and vehicles carrying Fridays protesters from outside the capital.

Rami, an Algerian young man and one of the demonstrators revealed to Al Jazeera Net before the beginning of the movement that his departure today was specifically to respond to the instructions of the army to prevent Algerians from entering their capital, describing these instructions as "random".

Unusually, Rami woke up early to avoid any emergency on the road, especially at the point called "Bab Ali", where there is a permanent gendarmerie barrier throughout the year.

According to identical testimonies of protesters who met with Al Jazeera Net, the three outlets of the capital were almost closed because of the large security barriers on the roads leading to the capital.

Reverse effect
Eder, who came across Al Jazeera Net at the start of the march, was surprised by the number of demonstrators, stressing that a large number of the people of his village from which he arrived today to the capital.

In his view, the closure of the capital has been counterproductive, doubling the number of demonstrators and pushing the population of the capital out in large numbers to denounce the army's decision to prevent citizens of the interior states from entering the capital.

These measures, Idir says, have given a new breath to the movement and increased the people's determination to leave all symbols of the regime and express their rejection of the presidential elections unless the government of Prime Minister Noureddine Badawi leaves.

What is remarkable this Friday, according to what stood Aljazeera Net, the descent of the feminist and families accompanied by children with an unusual intensity.

challenge
The demonstrators raised new slogans such as "What a shame, what a shame the capital is under siege" and "Rana Rana and enter the capital Harraga," as well as the emergence of a new slogan calling for the downing of the Chief of Staff.

According to political science professor Mohsen Khneish, there is a serious attempt by the de facto authority to crack down on demonstrations, whether by preventing citizens from outside the capital from joining post-Friday demonstrations through checkpoints or by arresting in the center of the capital.

But all this did not succeed because the Algerians came out to challenge the recent decisions, according to slogans such as "Gina Harraga of the capital" or "the people want to overthrow the leader Saleh" or "Makash elections with gangs."

He tells Al Jazeera Net that these slogans are an expression of the clear and explicit challenge to the recent measures, whether to restrict mobility or laws governing the elections, adding, "Again proves that there is a large gap between the movement and the actual power."