The February 12, 2011 Demonstration

The CNCD had decided to stage a protest march in the capital, which signified crossing a red line. The march was not authorized by the wilaya of Algiers, instead the organiz-ers were offered the possibility to hold a rally in a closed hall, which they refused (Le Quotidien d’Oran, 8 February 2011). Also the Minister of Interior as well as the vice prime minister had tried to “cancel” the march (Le Quotidien d’Oran, 10 February 2011). Parties belonging to the presidential alliance distributed flyers saying “no to vio-lence” in order to counter the mobilization attempts by the CNCD activists and to spread fear among citizens of the demonstration turning violent (El Watan, 11 February 2011). From the initiators’ perspective, the demonstration on February 12 was supposed

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to be “the beginning of popular contestation” (Le Quotidien d’Oran, 12 February 2011).

However, the security forces did their best to contain the demonstration and to keep it under control at any time.²⁰⁹ The largest demonstration in Algiers was overshadowed by an even larger presence of riot police forces belonging to the Unités républicaines de sécurité.

The envisaged route of the protest was to start at the Place du 1er Mai and to end at the Place des Martyrs, a couple of kilometers apart, passing through the vital squares of central Algiers which would encourage as many citizens as possible to join the march.

From the authorities’ perspective, this plan was to be thwarted at any cost. In prepara-tion of the protest, all public transport to the capital was stopped, including trains, bus-es, and highway routes. Public servants and students were advised not to pursue their work in Algiers in order to keep the streets as empty as possible (Le Soir d’Algérie, 13 February 2011). Even inside the capital, security was very tight, checking cars and bus-ses and preventing demonstrators from reaching the central meeting point at the Place du 1er Mai. All available measures of control were put into place in order to hinder any mobilizing momentum that would make the people overcome their fear of the security apparatus (and/or state power), as had happened in Egypt on January 25 (Le Quotidien d’Oran, 12 February 2011). Even internet access was blocked in Algiers and some other cities throughout the day, while some activists claimed their Facebook accounts had been deleted (The Telegraph, 12 February 2011). Many protesters, especially known activists, were arrested early on, according to some reports more than 300 persons, among them about 50 female activists (El Watan, 14 February 2011). The Minister of Interior tried to play down the number to a highly unlikely “14” (El Watan, 13 February 2011). They were held in custody at police stations and interrogated and released on the evening of the same day after the demonstration was over.²¹⁰ Even members of parlia-ment from the RCD were detained shortly after the beginning of the protest, among them Tahar Besbès (ibid.). Those who were held for the longest time were leaders of the autonomous unions and online activists (ibid.).

Besides the police forces on the ground, also a police helicopter kept the protesters un-der surveillance. Only about 500 demonstrators were able to gather in the Place du 1er Mai on the morning of 12 February and were instantly surrounded by a number of

209 Personal interview with journalist, Algiers, October 2013.

210 Personal interview with youth activist, Algiers, November 2013.

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licemen at least three times as high. The protesters included former FFS party leaders, former prime minister Ahmed Benbitour and a couple of other former ministers and members of parties close to the pouvoir (ibid.). Also a well-known singer, son of a Kabylian resistance fighter, joined the crowd with other musicians and was greeted en-thusiastically (ibid.). As it was impossible to gather in one place, mainly smaller groups formed in various areas and chanted their slogans.

According to the CNCD’s communiqué, the protesters’ demands comprised “change, democracy, the lifting of the state of emergency, the freeing of persons detained during protests, the opening of the media and the political scene, and social justice” (Le Quotidien d’Oran, 12 February 2011). Most prominently, protesters chanted the pan-Arab slogan “the people want the downfall of the regime” and “Djazair hurra, dimuqratiya” (a free, democratic Algeria), as well as “Yesterday Egypt, tomorrow Alge-ria” (Le Quotidien d’Oran, 13 February 2011; The Guardian, 12 February 2011). The decidedly anti-regime stance was also evident in the mixed Algerian-French slogan “get out, le pouvoir” (“barra barra ya l’pouvoir”, see El Watan 13 February 2011). The pro-testers also decried the president and his prime minister as “terrorist” (“Bouteflika-Ouyahia, hukuma irhabiya”; ibid.), and some posters said “Boutef out” – Boutef being the derogatory abbreviation for the president's name – or “down with dictatorship” (El Watan, 11 February 2011). On other posters, a multilingual regional reference was made: “One: Tunisie. Two: Egypte. Three: Viva l’Algérie!” (El Watan, 13 February 2011). Moreover, local grievances by organizations of the disappeared during the civil war added to the general slogans (Le Quotidien d’Oran, 13 February).

A minor counter-protest of regime supporters appeared on the scene (ibid.). Participants reported that youths tried to disturb the peaceful protest as agents-provocateurs who had presumably been paid by a member of the communal assembly to taint the movement’s reputation (El Watan, 14 February 2011). The thugs chanted “Bouteflika is not Mubar-ak”, but they also heatedly debated with protesters (El Watan, 13 February 2011). Po-lice wrested posters from activists and arrested them instead of the thugs, nevertheless more people joined the protest (ibid.).

Besides the usual suspects organized in the CNCD, former FIS vice president Ali Benhadj appeared at the protest site, accompanied by supporters chanting slogans

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ing him.²¹¹ However, many of the other demonstrators were outraged at his arrival and tried to keep him out of their ranks, fearing that the whole protest would be discredited through the participation of such a controversial personality. Considering the control the security forces exerted over the demonstration and the fact that most youth activists were arrested early on, it can be assumed that it was an intentional decision to let him appear at the protest exactly to create this kind of division and public fear of the FIS’

return.²¹²

According to newspaper reports, repressive measures especially targeted the protest leaders. Most prominently, the elderly former leader of the LADDH, Ali Yahia Abdennour was mistreated, as well as female protesters (Le Quotidien d’Oran, 13 Feb-ruary 2011). When a group tried to march to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, close to the Place du 1er Mai in the Rue Belouizdad, police fired tear gas grenades.

In all, the protest had endured from 8 to 16 o’clock (El Watan, 13 February 2011). As a result of the heavy police presence, turnout was comparatively modest. This triggered a heated debate within the CNCD whether to keep up the protests on a weekly basis (Le Quotidien d’Oran, 14 February 2011). Some considered the demonstration as a “success on the political and media levels”, also because it had united citizens from different so-cial backgrounds (El Watan, 14 February 2011). Although some participants viewed it as the decisive protest that had made the people fight the “wall of fear” (ibid.), they could not overcome the wall of security forces. To other observers, the fact that 30,000 policemen were probably necessary to prevent the mass rally did not prove the regime’s strength, but demonstrated the elites’ panic and weakness (Le Soir d’Algérie, 13 Febru-ary 2011). One of the organizers admitted that the weight of the demonstration in terms of turnout did not merit the media attention it received.²¹³ But obviously, the govern-ment assigned such an importance to the protest that it felt the need to dramatically in-crease the number of people on the Place du 1er Mai – even though they were security personnel.

Also in Oran the local offshoot of the CNCD had organized a minor protest in front of the municipal assembly, which was dispersed by police forces within one hour. Some 30 protesters were arrested and released later on, among them also academics (El

211 Cf. a video clip of his appearance on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o39I96w6Lq4 rev. 17.04.14.

212 Various personal interviews with social scientist, journalist, and youth activist, Algiers, October and November 2013.

213 Personal interview, October 2013, Algiers.

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Watan, 13 February 2011). In Annaba, unemployed youth besieged the administration building of the governorate and demanded instant job creation (El Watan, 14 February 2011).