Algerians hit streets to celebrate ‘smile revolution’ anniversary
People stage rallies in capital and other cities to mark the first year of protests
Algerians flooded into the streets of the capital and other cities on the 53rd straight day on Friday of peaceful protests, marking the first anniversary of their “smile revolution” that unseated the North African nation’s longtime president.
The revolt also swept aside the former ruler’s powerful entourage and struck hard at the corruption they had bred.
The unprecedented pro-democracy movement is still hoping toupend the whole political establishment, even if the tens of thousands of protesters in Algiers now appear less numerous than in the weeks after February 22, 2019.
As prayers ended on Friday, the main thoroughfares in Algiers filled up with protesters young and old, some calling for freedom for imprisoned protesters or for leaders to step aside. Police, who have arrested dozens of protesters over the past year, stood watch by their vehicles.
Marchers filled the streets of numerous towns, from Tizi Ouzou,
capital of the Kabyle region east of Algiers, to the western port city of Oran.
“Year after the beginning of the Hirak our first demand is still there: We will make sure the entire evil regime leaves,” said protester Hocine Kadide, using the Arabic name of the movement. “We took the streets to take back power and give it to the people, we took the streets to make sure all the corrupt people will fall.’’
Africa’s largest nation, whose powerful army has shadowed its rulers _ or ruled outright _ in an opaque system of governance since independence from France in 1962, is on the cusp of a new era, but there is no certainty about what the future will look like.
Authorities in Algeria, a gas-rich nation that has failed to adequately provide for its booming and youthful population, know they can no longer ignore the citizens they represent.
New President Abdul Majid Tebboune, once part and parcel of the old guard, recently referred to the “blessed and peaceful popular uprising,” and on Wednesday announced that February 22, when the marches began last year, would be a national holiday.