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Algeria: five years later, what remains of the Hirak protest movement?
Algeria: five years later, what remains of the Hirak protest movement? – (franceinfo)
At the beginning of 2019, Hirak pushed Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign. But the demonstrators, whose momentum had been cut off by Covid, are today repressed by a regime which is a continuation of the former president.
In February 2019, when Abdelaziz Bouteflika was seeking a fifth term as President of the Republic of Algeria, the population massively took to the streets to oppose him. For several months, every week, hundreds of people of all ages and social classes demonstrated. The oldest observed this unprecedented movement with emotion. “Such a manifestation, I wouldn’t have believed it, impossible. I am very proud of this youth“, testified one man.
A harshly repressed protest
Bouteflika finally resigned and new elections were organized, but only candidates from the old regime took part. Abdelmadjid Tebboune is elected despite a record abstention. “It doesn’t change anything at all. It’s the same system, it’s the same regime“, deplored an Algerian at the time. The demonstrations then resumed and targeted the entire system. But this momentum was broken by the arrival of Covid. Five years later, the activists were severely repressed by the government. The figures of the protest sometimes had to go into exile, while others were condemned.
