Algeria: thousands of demonstrators in the streets for the two years of Hirak
A man is carried by police and protesters during a demonstration marking two years since the start of Hirak, in Algiers, Algeria, February 22, 2021. REUTERS - RAMZI BOUDINA
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Many rallies are taking place this Monday in the country to mark the anniversary of this protest movement which led to the resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in April 2019.
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The movement had to interrupt its gatherings for several months
because of the Covid-19 epidemic,
but it continued to demand the dismantling of the system in place, synonymous in its eyes with authoritarianism and corruption.
This Monday, on the occasion of the two years of the protest movement, several rallies were organized across
Algeria
.
In the capital Algiers, a large police force was deployed early this morning and police roadblocks were set up on several roads leading to the capital.
The police also carried out identity checks near the Grande Poste, an emblematic meeting place of the Hirak.
"
The situation is much more frightening than at the beginning"
But despite this device, the demonstrators began to march at midday and several thousand people gathered in the capital.
There would also have been some arrests in the city center this Monday morning, before the arrival of the marchers.
In the rest of the country, gatherings in Bouira, Bejaia, Constantine, Tlemcen, Oran, Tizi Ouzou were organized.
In these towns, it would seem that there were several hundred at most.
In Skikda, for example, in the east of the country, 500 to 700 people marched quietly from the stadium to the town hall.
The police were present but they did not intervene.
For many demonstrators, the measures taken by the government in recent days, such as the dissolution of the Assembly, the
reshuffle of the government
or the
release of several dozen prisoners of conscience,
have not convinced.
“
They are trying to make us believe that the system has been changed by the last presidential elections, but in fact no, it is not at all.
The situation is much more frightening than at the beginning.
There is intimidation by the police, there is always intimidation,
”a 23-year-old student told RFI.
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