In Algeria, the Hirak protest movement celebrates its two years of existence on Monday February 22.

In 2019, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators had invaded the streets of Algiers after several days of protest in other cities of the country, a sign of the population's fed up with a class leader deemed corrupt.

This popular uprising, unprecedented since the independence of Algeria in 1962, led on April 2, 2019 to the fall of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, then in power for two decades and candidate for a fifth term.

Last year, the Covid-19 pandemic brought movement to a halt.

The activists had decided to suspend the mobilization after a last Friday of action, February 28, 2020. But the mobilization was revived this Monday with the second anniversary of Hirak.

Thousands of protesters marched in Algiers and other rallies were held across the country, following social media calls for protests.

"We did not come to celebrate (the second anniversary of Hirak, editor's note), but to demand your departure", notably chanted the protesters, according to AFP.

As two years before, the militants demand a profound change of the political system in place, want to get rid of corruption and demand more freedoms.

"The movement continues to circulate its ideas and always wishes to build an alternative. It also keeps a simple ambition: to put an end to the governance of the regime", summarizes Luis Martinez, specialist in the Maghreb at the International Research Center (Ceri) of Sciences Po , contacted by France 24.

A movement still without leadership

Two years after its birth, the Hirak remains an autonomous movement and not a structured political force.

"This organization has the advantage of preventing from co-opting or short-circuiting the leaders. But if the Hirak remains a protest movement and does not transform to join Algerian institutions, the movement can disappear and be vampirized by parties" , fears Luis Martinez, who recalls that the movement is "motley" and "divided".

The scenario could become clearer in the coming months.

Indeed, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Sunday dissolved the National People's Assembly (APN), the lower house of Parliament, whose term was due to expire in 2022. This decision paves the way for legislative elections, which, according to the Algerian Constitution, must be held within six months.

Abdemadjid Tebboune also proceeded Sunday to a reshuffle of his government, eagerly awaited in Algeria but whose scope remains limited.

Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad thus retains his post while he is widely criticized for his management of the health crisis and for his economic record.

The Ministry of Justice remains headed by Belkacem Zeghmati, engaged in the fight against corruption and in a judicial crackdown against the opposition and Hirak activists.

On the other hand, departures have multiplied in ministries linked to the economy, such as Energy, Industry or Tourism, a sign that the government is trying to get Algeria out of the economic slump.

The currency is devalued, inflation is rampant, growth is expected to be negative in 2021 and thousands of businesses have gone out of business.

This economic picture, which is difficult for Abdelmadjid Tebboune to assume, is conducive to a "convergence of struggles", according to Karim Yahiaoui, journalist from France 24. "On the one hand, Algerians are calling for more democracy and a profound system change of the Constitution, on the other hand, in a number of cities, anger is brewing over socio-economic aspects, ”he explains.

06:34

"Calming the game", a strategy of power?

Thursday, the president showed another gesture of appeasement to the protest movement, by decreeing a presidential pardon in favor of sixty prisoners of conscience.

For the time being, nearly 40 prisoners have been released, including the opponent Rachid Nekkaz and the journalist Khaled Drareni, sentenced to two years in prison last September and become the symbol of the fight for press freedom in Algeria.

But several members of the Hirak are still imprisoned.

In a statement released on Monday, Amnesty International urges the government to "immediately and unconditionally release all other peaceful demonstrators, activists and journalists prosecuted or detained for expressing their views or protesting peacefully and to drop all charges against them".

These amnesties, hailed by Emmanuel Macron, echo the release of 76 Hirak activists in January 2020, the day after Abdemadjid Tebboune's election in December 2019. "In the months that followed, the prisons fell apart. are fulfilled again, "recalls Karim Yahiaoui.

According to him, this past reinforces the crisis of confidence between the population and the government.

"These prisoner releases could have sounded like a clear desire for change. But a certain number of opponents and members of civil society are all the same suspicious", continues the journalist.

According to him, it may be a political strategy, intended to "calm things down and silence the streets".

This was already the objective of power on November 1, with the organization of a referendum on a reform of the Constitution.

This limits the number of presidential terms to two and facilitates the creation of associations and the exercise of the right of assembly and demonstration.

Despite a record abstention, the project was adopted, without convincing the supporters of Hirak, who still aspire today to a profound change in the Algerian political system.

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