FRANCE: Algerians demonstrate in Paris in support of compatriots hoping to force a leadership change in their home country

Record ID: 573786

  • Title: FRANCE: Algerians demonstrate in Paris in support of compatriots hoping to force a leadership change in their home country
  • Date: 13th February 2011
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (FEBRUARY 11, 2011) (REUTERS) ALGERIAN DEMONSTRATORS ON PLACE DE LA REPUBLIQUE BANNER READING "BOUTEFLIKA GET OUT" DEMONSTRATORS PROTESTING AND SHOUTING: "FIRST MUBARAK THEN BOUTEFLIKA". PROTESTER WATCHING DEMONSTRATORS WITH ALGERIAN FLAGS FRENCH DEMONSTRATORS WITH BANNERS READING "ALGERIA IS BREAKING THE FAMILY LAW (SOUNDBITE) (English) OMAR KEZOUIT, CO-ORDINATOR OF THE ALGERIAN PROTEST MOVEMENT IN FRANCE, SAYING: "In Algeria really the situation is that we are at the beginning of a popular movement, it is really the seeds that we are seeing now, and the reaction of the regime is still very strong and repressive." ALGERIAN FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (French) OMAR KEZOUIT, CO-ORDINATOR OF THE ALGERIAN PROTEST MOVEMENT IN FRANCE, SAYING: "Everything is converging together for the movement to gather momentum, and -- fantastically -- history is helping this momentum. The Tunisian people, the Egyptian people, and their success gives us reason to hope." BANNER READING "LONG LIVE FREE ALGERIA" (SOUNDBITE) (French) ALGERIAN IN FRANCE, ACHOUR, SAYING: "Let's hope the demonstrations gain momentum, so many have been repressed. In Algeria we can't do what we want, there is no freedom, they send in the riot police for the slightest thing, they already did it in 1980 to 1988 every time." DEMONSTRATOR SHOWING VICTORY SIGN DEMONSTRATORS WITH FLAGS DEMONSTRATORS CHANTING AND SHOUTING
  • Embargoed: 28th February 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France, France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABWAYD9PJEFR6I3CXRPGAZONS
  • Story Text: Algerian expatriates living in French gathered in Paris on Saturday (February 12) to show solidarity with the protest movement in their homeland as they seek to emulate Egypt's popular revolt.
    A few hundred demonstrators, Algerians and French protesters, gathered at the Place de la Republique to call for regime change and the removal of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
    Referring to Friday's overthrow of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, they chanted: "First Mubarak, then Bouteflika."
    The protesters said they hoped the movement in Algeria would use the success of the demonstrations in Egypt to gather momentum and that they should not be put off by "police repression".
    The co-ordinator of the Algerian protest movement in France, Omar Kezouit, said that the Algerian government was "very frightened" by what is happening in Egypt, but that repressing the movement there would only feed into its strength.
    "In Algeria really the situation is that we are at the beginning of a popular movement, it is really the seeds that we are seeing now, and the reaction of the regime is still very strong and repressive," he said.
    About 50 people shouted anti-government slogans in a square in Algeria's capital on Saturday but were encircled by hundreds of police determined to stamp out any attempt to stage an Egypt-style revolt.
    Mubarak's resignation, and last month's overthrow of Tunisia's leader, have electrified the Arab world and led many to ask which state could be next in a region where an explosive mix of authoritarian rule and popular anger is the norm.
    "Everything is converging together for the movement to gather momentum, and -- fantastically -- history is helping this momentum. The Tunisian people, the Egyptian people, and their success gives us reason to hope," said Kezouit.
    Protesters in Paris called for democratic freedoms in their Algerian homeland including the lifting of a state of emergency in force for 19 years.
    "Let's hope the demonstrations gain momentum, so many have been repressed. In Algeria we can't do what we want, there is no freedom, they send in the riot police for the slightest thing, they already did it in 1980 to 1988 every time," said Achour, another protester in the French capital.
    The revolt in neighbouring Tunisia began after a young, unemployed man call Mohamed Bouazizi set fire to himself on Dec. 17 in protest at the government, and since then several people in Algeria and elsewhere have copied him.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register