In Algiers, the weekly student march was prevented again on Tuesday for the second week in a row. These peaceful marches against power resumed at the end of February after a year of closure due to the health crisis. On Tuesday, May 4, and as the election called for by the government in June approached, dozens of people were arrested before they could even begin marching.
It is an extraordinary police unit that was waiting for the students on Tuesday on the streets of Algiers. But this time they had taken their precautions by changing the usual meeting place and thus hoping to avoid the arrests that forced them to give up their march last week.
But the massive deployment of police was right for these precautions. The arrests therefore began very early, even before the march began, and according to testimonies collected by AFP, it was dressed police officers who first arrested several student leaders, then dozens of other young people.
This wave of arrests was particularly condemned by the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights. She says she is concerned about “the escalation of repression against all opposition voices and Hirak”. According to her, proof of the authorities’ determination, the protesters who were arrested 8 days ago were released only on condition: they had to sign a document in which they undertake to no longer participate in these weekly marches with pain in prison.
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