Demonstrations resume in Algeria ahead of planned elections

A large-scale protest movement known as 'the Hirak' is now in its third year

Demonstrators gather in Algeria's capital Algiers, as the resurgent Hirak pro-democracy movement demands the overhaul of the ruling elite. Reuters

Thousands of people demonstrated in Algiers on Friday, rejecting early elections announced the day before, as weekly rallies by the resurgent Hirak pro-democracy movement gain momentum.

Protesters defied a coronavirus-related crowd ban to gather in different parts of the capital, before converging on the central post office, the Hirak movement's rallying point.

Demonstrators shouted slogans including, "No elections with mafia gangs" and "a civil not a military state"–  a key Hirak slogan.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Thursday issued a decree setting June 12 for early legislative elections, after dissolving parliament last month.

"To safeguard itself, the system says: legislative (elections)," one poster read Friday.

The Hirak movement emerged in February 2019, in protest against Abdelaziz Bouteflika's bid for a fifth term in office as president.

The ailing strongman was forced to step down weeks later, but the movement continued.

Protesters demanded a sweeping overhaul of a ruling system that has been in place since Algeria's independence from France in 1962.

Since its second anniversary on February 22, the Hirak has restarted weekly Friday protests.

These had been suspended for almost a year due to the pandemic.

"The same system is still in place. We will not vote on June 12," M'Hamed, a 50-year-old shopkeeper who only gave his first name, told AFP.

People also took to the streets in other parts of the country, including north-western port city Oran, central city Tizi Ouzou and eastern port Annaba.

The CNLD prisoners' rights group said protesters had been arrested in Tizi Ouzou, without providing further details.

Several journalists and a woman activist were also assaulted by a group of thugs locally known as "baltaguis" who operate on behalf of the authorities, CNLD said.

Protesters verbally abused another group of journalists, including a crew from news channel France 24.

Activists released 

Once prime minister under Mr Bouteflika and elected in a widely boycotted presidential poll in December 2019, Mr Tebboune has reached out to the protest movement while also seeking to neutralise it.

In a gesture of appeasement, last month he announced pardons for dozens of jailed pro-democracy activists, including several prominent figures.

Mr Tebboune has pledged that the June elections will be free of corruption and will "open the doors of parliament to young people".

A constitutional referendum in November saw record-low participation.