Algeria imposes restrictions on street protests

Algeria will bar any protests that do not have prior approval, it said yesterday, a move apparently aimed at the weekly mass demonstrations that ousted a veteran president in 2019 but have continued to demand a more thorough purge of the ruling elite, Reuters reports.

The Interior Ministry said all protests would need a permit that specified the names of organisers and a start and finishing time for the demonstrations.

“Failure to comply with these procedures will result in violating the law and the constitution, which denies the legitimacy of the march, and it will be necessary to deal with it on this basis,” the ministry said.

Such restrictions, even if permits were given, would mean naming specific individuals as formally responsible for a hitherto leaderless protest movement.

The measures are in line with a clause in a new constitution approved by Algerian voters in November last year, in a referendum that drew only 25 per cent participation, that requires organisers to give advance information before demonstrations.

READ: 230 firefighters suspended, accused of treason for protesting, in Algeria

Some protesters believe the restrictions are aimed at ending all street marches. “They are seeking reasons to justify any decision to ban marches,” said Ahmed Badili, a member of the leaderless protest movement known as Hirak.

The restrictions come ahead of early legislative elections on 12 June that President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, elected in December 2019 in a vote boycotted by the protest movement, vowed would be fair and transparent.

Thousands of people have been marching every Friday since February after a hiatus of nearly a year during which protests were halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Algerians protest president’s bid for 5th term – Cartoon [Mohammad Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]

Bouteflika stepped down in April 2019 but the protests continued as marchers demanded the departure of the entire ruling elite, an end to corruption, and for the army to quit politics.

While Tebboune has publicly praised the rallies as a moment of national renewal and offered dialogue with the movement, the security forces have detained protesters, drawing criticism from rights organisations.

READ: Algeria accuses foreign parties of using Hirak movement, dishonest means to wage war