Algeria’s Tebboune: ‘Authorities will not tolerate incitement and dangerous deviations of Hirak’

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Tuesday issued a warning to the Hirak protest movement calling for reforming the country’s political system, stressing that the authorities will not tolerate the incitement and dangerous deviations committed by the Hirak protesters.

The warning comes after the Algerian popular movement held its weekly demonstration in the capital, Algiers, on Tuesday. During the demonstration, a crowd of students, teachers and activists demanded the release of those arrested for participating in the protests.

The Algerian presidency announced in a statement that President Tebboune chaired a meeting of the Supreme Security Council during which: “He considered the instigating actions and dangerous deviations committed by separatist circles, and illegal movements that can be referred to as terrorism, taking advantage of the weekly demonstrations.”

The statement added that the president: “Stressed that the state will not tolerate these deviations that have nothing to do with democracy and human rights.”

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According to the statement, Tebboune ordered: “The immediate and strict application of the law with the aim of ending these suspicious activities and unprecedented abuses, especially against state institutions and symbols, in an attempt to impede the democratic path and development in Algeria.”

The statement indicated that the president praised the efforts made by state institutions to ensure the success of the legislative elections scheduled for 12 June, while highlighting: “The need to take all necessary measures to hold this event in the most convenient conditions.”

Tebboune previously called for holding early legislative elections in an attempt to resolve the serious political, social and economic crisis witnessed by the most populated country in the Maghreb region.

However, the Hirak protesters continue to express their rejection of the early elections that Tebboune has called for after dissolving the People’s National Assembly last February.