The Algerian authorities on Sunday arrested 18 people who had brandished the Berber minority flag during an anti-government protest in Algiers on Friday despite a ban imposed by the military, reported Yahoo News.
The security forces detained them during a mass protest held by Algerians demanding a political overhaul in the country. The protests, which began since longtime President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced plans to seek a fifth term in office, have continued even after he resigned in April. He resigned as the pressure against him to quit mounted from all sides, only hours after army chief Gaid Salah demanded impeachment proceedings against him.
After the suspects were made to appear in the court, lawyers Noureddine Benissad and Karim Heddar, said they were accused of “undermining national unity.” If the suspects are found guilty, they could be sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Last week, the army chief General Ahmed Gaid Salah had put a ban on holding of any flags other than Algeria’s national flag by the protestors during their rallies. He was apparently referring to the Berber or Amazigh flag which protesters have been seen holding, alongside the national flag, at rallies in recent weeks. He had also ordered the arrest of those carrying them.
Supporters of the suspects gathered outside the courthouse in central Algiers to denounce their detention.
“We’re fed up with those in power,” they chanted. “We’re fed up with the generals.”
The state television reported that a court in the city of Bejaia east of Algiers on Sunday ordered a suspected remanded into custody for allegedly “ripping up an Algerian flag”.
Despite a wave of anti-corruption investigations and arrests by the army, the people of Algeria have kept up calls for the army chief’s departure along with the entire regime that surrounded Bouteflika including interim President Abdelkader Bensalah and Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui.
