Algeria: the day of the start of Hirak declared "national day", a criticized choice

Text by: RFI Follow

On February 22, the day in Algeria the protest against power, called Hirak, was declared "National Day" by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. A choice that provokes criticism.

Publicity

The presidency announced, in a statement quoted on state television, that " Mr. Tebboune declared Wednesday (...) February 22 of each year as 'National Day' of brotherhood and cohesion between the people and his army ”. " The presidential decree stipulates that the day of February 22 will immortalize the historic start of the people and will be celebrated throughout the national territory, through demonstrations and activities capable of strengthening the bonds of national brotherhood and cohesion ", according to the press release.

On February 22, 2019, millions of Algerians took to the streets of the country's major cities to express their rejection of a fifth term of ex-President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. This popular movement obtained the resignation of Mr. Bouteflika in early April 2019, but continued to demand the end of the political system in place since the country's independence in 1962.

President Tebboune accused of wanting to recover a date that belongs to the Algerians

Kaci Tansaout is the leader of the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (CNDL), the flagship organization of the Friday demonstrations which counts the number of people arrested during the mobilizations. For him, by this decision, the president is trying to recover a date that belongs to the Algerians, when the latter do not want an army involved in politics.

“ Everyone knows it's a recovery, but it's an attempt to recover. They always continue to repress, they still continue to arrest the demonstrators carrying the Amazigh emblem. It is a non-event, moreover the reaction of the Algerian people since yesterday, since the information fell, everyone laughs at this exit. It is a non-event. They want to recover a date, it is the Algerians who brought down the Bouteflikha regime. Today it is the system, it is power that is afraid and it is no longer the street. The soldiers are all the children of the people, they are all our brothers, but it is about a staff which decides, which does not want to release the capacity. The Algerian people want a republican army, that means an army that does not get involved in politics, "Kaci Tansaout told RFI.

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• Algeria
• Abdelmadjid Tebboune

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