Several thousand people demonstrated on Thursday, October 19, in Algiers and throughout the country in solidarity with the Palestinians and to denounce Israel’s “crimes,” on the thirteenth day of a deadly war between the Israeli state and the movement. Islamist Hamas in power in the Gaza Strip.
During this first authorized march since the end of the Hirak, a popular protest movement, more than two years ago, the Algerians marched for nearly 5 km in the capital shouting “Palestine, martyrs! » and “People and army with you Palestine”.
“No to the killing of children, women and civilians. Where are the human rights? », “Biden war criminal”, we could read on banners, others demanding “the dismissal of the US ambassador to Algeria”.
US President Joe Biden visited Israel on Wednesday to assure the country of his support, after a Hamas attack on its soil on October 7, which triggered a bloody war between the Palestinian Islamist movement and the Jewish state which , since then, has been shelling the Gaza Strip in retaliation.
“I know what indiscriminate bombing and indiscriminate killing mean. Israel is like France, it considers that all people are part of the resistance,” declared, draped in a keffiyeh, Mohamed Kadri, 84 years old and former member of the National Liberation Army (ALN).
“The enemy has exceeded all limits”
For Sarah Omari, 22, a student at the University of Algiers, “the government did well to authorize this march. We would explode with rage watching the daily bombings on Gaza.”
After Covid-19 and the repression of the authorities during the second anniversary of Hirak in 2021, the marches stopped. Calls from several political parties and trade union organizations for this march “for the victory of Palestine” were relayed by public television.
Palestinian flags were hung throughout the capital alongside Algerian flags. “The enemy has exceeded all limits and its goal is to exterminate the Palestinian people. We must not be silent,” proclaimed Noureddine, 54, employed in a railway company.
Algeria, unconditional support for the Palestinian cause, canceled all cultural events including the festivities of November 1, the date of the outbreak of the Algerian revolution (1954-1962). It also suspended all football matches “until further notice”, in support of the Palestinian people.