21 - 27 June 2001
Issue No.539
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 21 - 27 June 2001 Issue No.539 |
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Move to curb ethnic protests
Continuing Berber riots in Algeria have provoked the government to ban demonstrations in the capital, Nasr El-Kaffas reports from Algiers
The Algerian government announced on Monday that it had banned all demonstrations in the capital following the fierce rioting which broke out last Thursday during a pro-democracy rally estimated to have been attended by up to a million people.
An Algerian woman passing by police forces during a massive ethnic Berber-led protest (photo: AFP)
The move comes as the military-backed government grapples with violent protests which began two months ago. The unrest began among ethnic Berbers in the eastern Kabyle region, but has since spread to the capital and other parts of the country.
Newspapers reported that three police officers were killed on Monday during fresh riots in the mountainous Kabyle region, 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Algiers. Liberté newspaper's Tuesday edition said dozens of people were injured in the riots in Tizi Ouzou and other cities. It said a police officer was killed when he fell from a balcony while firing tear gas.
In a statement issued late on Monday, the government said it was determined "to tackle serious excesses ... during the tragic and painful events that have taken place in recent days". It said it would ban all protest marches in Algiers until further notice, and accused unnamed groups of exploiting events to "drag the country into chaos and anarchy".
France, Algeria's former colonial ruler, cast a critical eye on the government's move, calling the people's movement "profoundly legitimate".
"[France] is very sensitive to the demand, the desire, the call that has risen from the depths of Algeria's people for real change, for a return to political, democratic, economic and social modernisation," Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine told France's National Assembly.
"We feel that this reasoning and this demand are profoundly legitimate," he added.
Vedrine's statements were likely to anger the Algerian government, which protested about similar French remarks made after Berber riots first broke out two months ago. Algerian officials accused Paris-based extremist Berber groups of inciting the riots back home and promoting separatist ideas.
Algeria's wave of unrest was sparked off in April after a student was shot and killed while in police custody in Kabyle. Hundreds of young Algerians took to the streets daily across the region, where relations with the Algiers-based authorities have been tense for decades.
The Berbers, who claim to be the original inhabitants of this part of North Africa, have long demanded more recognition, including official status for their language, Tamazight.
At first, the protesters focused on Berber demands and called for an end to alleged "abuses of power" by police in the region. But the police shooting of dozens of protesters transformed a regional issue into national discontent.
Last Thursday, close to a million people demonstrated in Algiers, in what was described by organisers as a "march for democracy". But the protest turned violent, with riot police using water cannon and tear gas to push back demonstrators trying to reach the presidential palace. Protesters smashed hotel entrances, threw stones at riot police and set fire to buildings and cars.
Four people were killed, including two journalists, by a bus as it sped away from a burning depot. Authorities said 365 people were injured, including 36 police officers. Over the weekend, anti- government protesters in Kabyle attacked public buildings, burned cars and clashed with police. Dozens were reported injured.
The recent protests have overshadowed a nine-year insurgency by Islamic militants who are seeking to topple the government. The uprising has claimed more than 100,000 lives since it started in 1992, when the army cancelled elections a Muslim party (FIS) was set to win.
The recent riots are not linked to this insurgency, and most Berbers dislike the Islamists as much as they dislike the army- backed government.
In a news conference on Monday, Interior Minister Yazid Zarhouni, implying a hidden role by unnamed "outside forces", said it was no surprise to him that riots broke out shortly after President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika announced an ambitious eight-billion-dollar economic development plan. He added that the leaders of the Berber tribes who organised last week's march wanted to involve the capital in the ongoing conflict, and accused them of violating an earlier agreement that protesters would not try to reach the presidential palace.
President Bouteflika also promised seriously to consider Berber demands for the recognition of their language and including that in the Algerian constitution.
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