Dubai: The Algerian opposition, led by the Coordination for Democratic Change in Algeria (CDCA), a Facebook group, will go ahead with its planned movement to topple the government and will not accept anything less than full democracy.
Ali Yahya Abdul Nour, chief of a human rights group and the eldest of the CDCA leaders, told Gulf News the people will take to the streets in Algiers every Saturday until the dictator's regime ends. Abdul Nour, who was a former minister in the government of the first president of Algeria after the 1962 liberation, said 18 groups working under the CDCA are confident of getting the support of thousands of young men and women in the country.
He said the talk about lifting the emergency law in 19 states except in the capital will not be accepted. Partial lifting of emergency is not the answer to the justifiable demand of Algerians and the uprising will reach its full momentum in the coming weeks. Algerian President Abdul Aziz Bouteflika promised 10 days ago that the state of emergency would be lifted soon.
Escalation
Yesterday, Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci said the law will be lifted, brushing off concerns that recent protests could escalate as in Tunisia and Egypt. A state of emergency has been in force in Algeria since 1992. Abdul Nour said full lifting of emergency is one demand out of 10 others, including freeing prisoners of conscience and liberating the state-owned media from the government's grip. "The ever-rising unemployment figures amongst young men and women must be controlled by the government which has to work sincerely to end corruption," he said.
He said Algeria is a rich country and it has hard currency reserves that exceed $100 billion (Dh367 billion).
Some other major opposition groups like the Labour Union and socialist parties announced that they are against the regime but will not operate under what they tagged as backward forces, referring to the two Islamic parties enrolled in the CDAC.
Fadil Bamaleh, Secretary General of CDAC, denied any influence of political ideology over the programme set by the group. He told Gulf News on Saturday that the demonstrations have achieved their objectives in spite of the 30,000 security personnel called in by the government to the Martyrs Square to crush them.
Call for restraint
France yesterday called on Algeria to allow anti-government protests, inspired by uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, to take place freely and without violence.
"What is important in our eyes us is that freedom of expression is respected and that the demonstrations are able to take place freely and without violence," foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero told reporters.
