Algeria's Hirak marches on in the face of official warnings
Algeria’s predominantly young protesters have proven resistant to any attempt to hijack their cause and bend it to any end but their own.
For the 18th consecutive Friday, Algeria’s protesters gathered in the thousands, calling for the exit of the regime they see as having enriched itself at the country’s expense.
In a potential indication of the hardening mood of the regime toward protesters, Army chief Gen. Ahmed Gaid Salah, who has emerged as the country’s de facto leader ahead of interim President Abdelkader Bensalah, termed anyone opposing the army “enemies of Algeria.”
In the same speech June 18, Gaid Salah asked, “Those who are knowingly trying to circumvent … terms of the constitution … do they realize what it means to suppress all state institutions?”
Irrespective of the regime’s apparently diminishing patience, demonstrators again took to the streets across Algeria, shrugging off the recent tranche of anti-corruption investigations opened into individuals close to former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, as they repeated their demands for the complete transition to a new regime untouched by the corruption of the old.
