Algeria: Hirak protesters remain optimistic in Bejaïa

Text by: RFI Follow

Demonstrations took place this Friday, February 14, across the country for the 52nd week in a row. If the new president and the new government multiply the announcements and the decisions, that does not seem to have a hold on the mobilization. In the town of Béjaia, 220 km from Algiers, the demonstrators say they are aware of the weaknesses of the movement but want to remain optimistic.

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With our return correspondent from Béjaia, Leïla Beratto

Raouf and Nabil are master students. When they can, they demonstrate on Tuesday and Friday. But despite everything, every week they also doubt.

“ We said to ourselves at one point: it will suffocate. After the 4th, 5th, 15th, 20th, we arrived at the 52nd step, and it still works, it's magnificent! And I still prefer to walk and tell myself that maybe there will still be two or three people who will still walk. If it fails, I would say that I did everything to make it work. It's better than the others who say that we lost in advance. "

Zara Harfouche, 32, is a lawyer. Very involved in the movement , she says that she regularly thinks about how to continue her mobilization for a change in the political system. “ The demonstration must continue, it cannot be suppressed or dismissed. At the same time, there has to be more debate, there really has to be communication. "

The inhabitants of the region launched a call to demonstrate this Sunday, in the city of Kherrata, where a first demonstration against the 5th term of Abdelaziz Bouteflika had taken place on February 16, 2019.

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