The government is organizing legislative elections on June 12 yet few protesters appear to consider the poll as a moment for genuine change
Rabat – Hirak protesters again took to the streets with many protesters expressing skepticism regarding upcoming legislative elections.
Thousands of Hirak protesters chanted slogans on Friday March 26 as they marched through central Algiers to demonstrate against Algeria’s ruling elite. “A civilian state, without military influence,” signs stated as protesters streamed through Asselah-Hocine street in the heart of the country’s capital.
Protesters again gathered in the working class neighborhood of Bab El-Oued before marching through the city center. Algeria’s national colors were on full display as flags and placards carried by protesters decried the country’s ruling elite commonly known as “the power.”
Riot-police trucks had been lined up along the sidewalk in order to block photographers from recording the mass outpouring of discontent. Yet after 110 days of Hirak protests, commonly taking place on Friday, Algeria’s press has become experts at finding spots to photograph the massive protests.
Protesters carried signs that called for an end to the country’s ruling elite, while many protesters voiced their scepticism regarding upcoming legislative elections.
Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune dissolved parliament in February amid a flurry of actions aimed at placating the reemerging Hirak protests. Tebboune announced on March 11 that the country would organize new legislative elections on June 12.
Algeria’s unpopular president has tried to frame himself as a champion for the Hirak protests and credited the movement for constitutional reforms that were approved in a widely boycotted referendum in November, 2020. The public scepticism regarding the referendum appears to mirror opinions regarding the upcoming poll to decide on a new parliament.
“The demonstrators have once again proved that they know how to overcome their differences and unite for the same objective,” a protester told Algerian newspaper Liberte Algerie. He described Hirak’s goal as “a break with a moribund, ineffective and inoperative system.”
