‘The wall of fear has been broken’ – Algerians in Britain join global demonstrations against Bouteflika

“As millennials we have known nothing but his regime.”

Djamila speaks for a generation, and she also speaks for a gathering sense of outrage. Protests in Algeria have been rare throughout the 20-year rule of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and even rarer are they tolerated. After the president announced his candidacy for a fifth term on 10 February, demonstrations snowballed across the country and beyond.

Djamila was at a protest in London’s Trafalgar Square last Saturday, joining more than 1000 fellow Algerians. “One month ago, if you criticised Bouteflika, people would hush you. It was taboo,” she said then. “Now, if you speak in support for him, people will hush you. Finally, the wall of fear has been broken.”

On Monday evening, Algerian protestors had some news to digest. President Bouteflika’s office announced that the 18 April elections would be postponed, and that he would not run for a fifth term.

People in Algeria celebrated in the streets, but amid the hope there was a large dose of pessimism. Twitter commentators like Said Touama warned his Algerian friends ‘Bouteflika’s renouncement is a trap. No fifth term means a fourth term could be extended to an indefinite date. We don’t know the exact postponed date of these presidential elections.’

Djamila, a PhD student, told me on Tuesday that her concern was that Bouteflika had used a mechanism to delay the vote, which cited “imminent danger to [Algeria’s] institutions, to its independence or to its territorial integrity”.

Bouteflika’s endgame remains unclear, but the protests have momentum. Last Saturday’s in central London was the third in a row, with numbers building as UK-based Algerians coordinated on Facebook to show solidarity with those back home. The new generation has grown impatient with its ailing ruler, who has been in power since 1999, after a horrifying civil war known as the “black decade” which saw the Islamist FIS ousted by a military junta.

Djamila’s friend Fatima had travelled even further to join the protest, taking the train from York where she is reading Women’s Studies. She is adamant that women need to be fully involved in the process of reforming institutions, and complains that the female ministers currently elected have failed to support women’s interests.

Fatima is researching female vloggers from Algeria, who, as she explains, “against all odds, are being outspoken in a society where women are not encouraged to speak out in the same way as men.”

It is certainly a country now in flux. Uncertainty is widespread, with warnings of ensuing chaos, violence and war from Bouteflika’s office, echoed by neighbouring leaders such as Egypt’s President Sisi.

Among the London crowds though, optimism dominated, and hope that peace would prevail. Young Algerian men danced and sang to the beat of traditional hand-held instruments and posed for selfies while kissing London policeman on the cheeks, mimicking photographs that have gone viral from demonstrations in Algeria. Police, lawyers, and professors across Algeria have also demonstrated, joining the people in calling for extensive reform.

Thousands of Algerians every year risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean, heading with hope towards Europe, dreaming of a future where they can thrive and not just survive; where they can work hard; support their families; reinvest in Algeria, and craft better opportunities for the next generations.

Some 70 per cent of Algeria’s population are under 30, and youth unemployment rates are climbing above 30 per cent. Nepotism is rife, stifling social mobility and leaving young people deeply frustrated.

Poverty and unemployment have boomed in Algeria, the largest country in Africa, even though it holds more than 12bn barrels of oil reserves. Frustration is aimed at the government’s failure to diversify the economy, and invest the profits from petroleum into education, infrastructure, health care.

Opposition has been stifled, and it is still unknown who could lead the way should Bouteflika resign. One opposition figure popular with young people, Rachid Nekkaz, was reportedly arrested for trespassing at the hospital in Geneva where Bouteflika was seeking medical help. He has previously been refused the chance to stand.

“This is a Family Affair,” read one placard at the London protest, emphasising the message that no foreign intervention would be welcomed. Djamila made it clear that no rescue package from a foreign nation in these moments of instability would be beneficial for the Algerian people.

“They will only seek their own interests. We as Algeria have had our resources colonised since the French invasion 189 years ago. We want independence now, real independence. This is the first step; we will continue to make our voices heard until he resigns. The second step will be to work out how to establish a real democracy, where we can choose who leads us.”

This coming Saturday, UK-based Algerians will be joined by Syrians demonstrating against the Assad regime – and perhaps hoping the “wall of fear” now broken in Algeria offers hope to others waiting for their own taste of a late-flowering Arab spring.