Any demonstration in Algeria will now be prohibited if it does not benefit from prior authorization, which will be issued on condition that the organizers communicate their identity as well as the start and end times of the rally, the government announced on Sunday, June 9.

"The organizers of the marches are required to declare, to the competent services, the names of the organizers of the march, the start and end times, the route and the slogans," the ministry said in a statement released by the official APS agency.

Failure to comply with these procedures "deprives the operation of any legal character" and "implies treatment accordingly", it is added.

These restrictions, in accordance with the new Constitution adopted by referendum in November with only 25% participation, seem to target the demonstrations organized every Friday since February as a continuation of the "Hirak" movement born in 2019 against the ruling elite, which has resulted in the sidelining of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. 

This protest is intended precisely without an identified leader, contrary to the new demands on the organization of demonstrations. 

A change of course

For the first time since the resumption of the Hirak marches in February, the demonstrators changed their route on Friday to bypass the many cordon and police vehicles that blocked access to the main artery Didouche Mourad, near the Grande Poste, an emblematic place rally of the Hirakists in Algiers.

After the Friday prayer, the procession coming from the popular district of Bab El-oued, one of the strongholds of the dispute, headed for Belouizdad (formerly Belcourt district), another stronghold of Hirak, instead of rallying, like every Friday, downtown.

"It was recently observed that the weekly marches begin to register serious slippages (...) due to individuals changing, at any time, the route under the pretext of being free to walk in any direction" , denounced the Ministry of the Interior.

On April 30, the police dispersed the Hirak march in Algiers with batons and made several arrests.

Most of those arrested were released.

With the approach of the early legislative elections of June 12, rejected by the Hirak, repression is increasing in Algeria, say human rights organizations.

According to the National Committee for the Liberation of Prisoners (CNLD), a mutual aid association, more than 70 people are currently imprisoned, prosecuted for acts related to Hirak and / or individual freedoms.

In a statement issued on Friday, Amnesty International described the illegal use of force and arbitrary detentions as "unacceptable".

With AFP and Reuters

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