Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday said Algerian authorities are targeting people participating in peaceful mass protests as they have resorted to large-scale arrests in response to months of demonstrations.
The international rights advocacy group said the government is tightening the screws on protests that began in late February and led to the forced resignation of longtime President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The authorities have jailed people for peacefully carrying a flag or a protest sign and even arrested a veteran of the independence war for criticizing the army.
While mass protests have continued every Friday, the authorities have deployed police forces massively in Algiers’ central streets and squares and at checkpoints, effectively limiting the number of protesters who can reach the march.
“The Algerian authorities initially tolerated the protests by millions of people that began in February to demand political reform,” said Lama Fakih, acting Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “But Algeria’s authorities are now turning the vise, jailing flag-wavers and turning back would-be marchers.”
The HRW claims there are 40 protestors currently in custody, many of whom have been arrested for carrying the Amazigh or Berber flag, which has become a symbol of activism in the region. The rights advocacy group said the arrested people are under investigation in the charges of harming the integrity of the national territory, which carries sentences of up to 10 years in prison
The group has called out for the release of all those arrested for possessing or waving a flag, saying it is a peaceful expression protected by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the Algerian government ratified in 1989, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
Nationwide protests, which were initially aimed at restricting former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika from seeking a fifth mandate, continue to demand a complete political overhaul. The protestors are seeking a democratic government and want all the top figures, who are close aides of the former President including Interim President Abdelkader Bensalah, to resign.
