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“Get out!“, “get out!“. They were between 150 and 200 Algerians gathered on Sunday March 24 in Union Square to demand the resignation of their president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and to support their “Algerian brothers“, Still present in the streets of the country for a fifth consecutive Friday Friday March 22.
Algeria is going through an unprecedented political crisis. On March 11, the people forced Abdelaziz Bouteflika to give up running for a fifth term. But the Algerian president has announced that he will remain in power until the end of the year to organize new elections, a decision deemed unacceptable by a majority of Algerians who want the immediate departure of “Boutef” and his party. the FLN (National Liberation Front).
“We demand their departure and the establishment of a constituent assembly, the starting point of a second republic“, Summarizes Amara Challal, one of the organizers of the New York event. The 42-year-old explains that he was forced to leave his country 17 years ago to find work in the United States. “I had no future in Algeria, while the country is extremely rich. We are fed up with this mafia power which is capable of spending 1,000 billion dollars abroad in twenty years, but which cannot build a correct school in the country ”.
Originally from Tizi Ouzou, Sassia has lived in New York since 2007. She made the choice to come to the event with her family with her husband and the son of a friend, because “all generations are affected by poverty and unemployment in Algeria ”. She explains having left a country “no future”Whose only hope of the inhabitants is to “Take a boat or a plane to leave”.
As during the demonstrations in Algeria and France, some signs brandished on Union Square were competing in creativity. We could notably read “the only warrant you deserve is an arrest warrant“, “the president is missing. Reward: a new republic (the president is gone. Reward: a new republic) ” or “we are not on Facebook but in the street“. But in the crowd, we mostly heard criticism of France and Emmanuel Macron. “France has helped the current power to stay in place, and in return benefits from free oil and gas ”, denounces Noe Mellal, a 29-year-old architect. For Salim Boukaïs, 23, “Macron said he was for a transition. But he wants to replace the system in place with the same younger people to preserve France’s economic interests ”.
Among the protesters interviewed, all shared a common desire, that of a successful political transition that would allow them to return to Algeria. “Our main slogan here is: ‘leave so that we can come back to the country’”, lance Noe Mellal. “Of course I hope to return”, says Salim Boukaïs. “My brothers and sisters are in Algeria. If I had the choice, I would be with them in the bled ”, says Amara Challal, before meeting in Union Square on Sunday March 31 for a new event.
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