This Friday, June 19 was not only, in Algeria, the anniversary of the coup d'état of Houari Boumédiène against Ahmed Ben Bella in 1965, but it was also, according to some observers, aware of the return of the manifestations of the hirak, this grassroots movement born on February 22, 2019, to oppose the fifth term of the ousted president Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Several calls on social networks have called for the resumption of the market then that was declared a "truce" health of the hirak since mid-march, in parallel with the containment part to combat the spread of coronavirus. If in Algiers, on Friday, no walk has not been observed, the events limited in numbers of walkers have taken place in Kabylia to Constantine and Oran. According to the algerian League for the defense of human rights (LADDH), these events have been marked by 500 arrests and 70 presentations in front of the justice.
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back To the reconfinement ?
The low mobilization can be explained by the fear that the authorities impute a rise in cases of contamination Covid-19 in these gatherings, at a time when Algeria is experiencing a marked increase in the spread of the coronavirus. "We find that there is elevation in the number of cases [of contamination], but that is not what worries. What is (worrisome), it is the elevation of the case in the icu, so serious cases. It may be that the virulence of the virus is high, but it can mean also that there are more cases. It is well known that the viruses circulating within the population ", about, Friday, 19 June, the minister of Health, Abderrahmane Benbouzid.
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even The idea of a reconfinement has been advanced by the scientific committee and monitoring of the outbreak of coronavirus. In addition, and as of last week, several figures of the hirak have called to prevent the resumption of protests. "Our revolution is blessed has always been marked by the consciousness of the people and its unity, so I think it would be wise to postpone the return of the hirak until the sanitary conditions are favourable ", has posted on his page in Facebook the lawyer Mustapha Bouchachi.
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Caution of the figures of the hirak
His colleague, maître Abdelghani Badi, very engaged on the file of prisoners from hirak, abounds in the same direction, believing that " delay the recovery of the hirak until the return of health conditions is the wisdom and good sense, and to bring all of the hirakistes around a decision is a factor of unity ". Because he warns that " hirak doesn't need to factors of differences between its actors. More than ever we need to speak with a single voice ".
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The political scientist Louiza Aït Hamadouche also advocates the same approach : "the return to the public events is certainly not the solution, because 1 : this return is not consensual ; 2 : when a minority of people can be found in the street, it is this which facilitates the repression. And, 3 : this may be an argument that will be used against the hirakistes, if the rate of contamination increases ". The authorities are accused by the activists, NGOS algerian and international as well as political parties to "take advantage" of the anti-Covid-19 to stifle the hirak. The Rally for culture and democracy, RCD, acknowledged this weekend the authorities of " making the wrong choice in wanting to take advantage of the suspension of the public events because of a pandemic, in order to enhance the stalking of political activists and activists with the hirak ", citing a " line liberticidal assumed ".
Hirak "blessed" and "authentic"
According to the calculation of the LADDH, not less than 200 people have been arrested since the beginning of the containment partial mid-march. "Algeria would have been able to use the Covid-19 to scare the Algerians in tripling the number of victims instead of telling the strict truth, what we have always done it ", remarked a high official of the State. "No, there is no exploitation of the health crisis and those who have been arrested have been for other offences punishable under the act without any link with the freedom of expression," continues the same official source. "The president Tebboune is the first to recognize that the hirak has saved the country, that it is a blessing. But from June 2019, this movement took a new turn ", argues another official source, while questioning : "Where are the 13 million Algerians, who went out during the first months of the hirak authentic ? "
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To some observers, the hirak do would not come out of it unscathed, in terms of mobilization, after the containment and especially in the shade of the dissensions and differences, marking a movement very large in terms of pluralities ideological. "Beyond the ideological plurality and projects of the company, the hirak is divided into two political positions main ", analysis Soufiane Djilali, chairman of the opposition party Jil Jadid. "One claims to have a total break, leaves to go to the civil disobedience and the paradoxical "confrontation and the pacific". The other trend sees the contrary, that political gains and symbolic substantial have already been acquired and that it is now value them and demarcate them on the ground, " he said.
Find the policy objective
Because in the end, and beyond the question of recovery or non-events, it is the very nature of the hirak, its objectives and its achievements, which is also fuelling the debate. The columnist and political scientist Abed Charef summarized in the words : "How can we admit that the popular movement's most important independent Algeria was to be prohibited, by those who claim to lead it, to speak of a Constitution, elections, political deadlines, social struggles ? How can people sensible, reasonable, activists proven, scholars, how did they transform the hirak in a ritual folk, in a kind of totem, while prohibiting to themselves and to others, any innovative idea, any thought, any search for a new way to get out of the impasse ? "
