Bordered by Tunisia, where it all started, the so-called People's Democratic Republic of Algeria found itself shutting down Internet providers and deleting Facebook accounts across the country as thousands of protesters were arrested following street demonstrations.
No doubt taking their cue from the people of Egypt and Tunisia, the citizens took to the streets in the capital Algiers, demanding that the president - Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has been in office since 1999 - leave office; this despite the fact that the government had initially banned the gathering and warned citizens against joining the protest.
The conditions that led to this final action are strikingly identical to those in other parts of North Africa where protests have threatened the status quo since the new year began: long-standing governance by state of emergency, and a ban on public protest in Algiers. In response, an estimated 26,000 riot police were set up to battle the demonstrators. There were reports of 400 people detained, others stopped from coming into cities, state-sponsored officials harassing journalists, and plastic bullets and tear gas being used to disperse those arrested during the five-kilometre-long march to 1 May Square in the capital's centre.
The Algerian government decided to wage a concerted battle against the Internet, and in a move to handicap the organisers and shut down their ability to communicate with the rest of the world the authorities closed down online access and stifled the demonstrators' ability to organise through Facebook.
Evidently, something is happening across North Africa that the governments couldn't have imagined - a people pushed to the wall and pressed to the ground have finally risen up to say enough of oppression and a government that has continually refused to acquiesce to the wishes of the citizens.
This is despite the fact that these are a people who have been scarred by conflict through their experience with the extremist Islamic insurgency in the 1990s that left hundreds of thousands dead. Indeed, Algeria has been a hotbed of political crises, defined by the decade long battle for power that lasted from 1992 to 2002.
But it was bound to happen. An oil rich nation, Algeria has the eighth largest reserves of natural gas in the world, yet the majority of the population - especially its young people suffer from mass unemployment, a housing crisis, debilitating poverty, all underpinned by political corruption.
The demands of the protesters are for an end to the government of Bouteflika and its 19-year state of emergency. Mounting grievances over the spiralling cost of food and unemployment finally exploded in the riots that began early this month, no doubt encouraged by public protests in Tunisia that forced its president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee on January 14.
The Algerian government tried to respond by reducing the prices of oil, sugar and other basic necessities, and promising continued subsidies. Still the people remain angry and in the past two weeks, almost 10 martyrs have set themselves on fire.
This happens to be the second time this year that ordinary Algerians are taking their destinies into their hands. In January, at least five people were killed and 1000 arrested as citizens took to the streets. Now the February 12 Revolution - and the overflowing police cells - make an eloquent statement: when a people decide that they have had it, there are not enough army tankers to hold back the momentum.
Without a doubt, what is happening is a people-power uprising that comes from years and years of sitting down and taking it. As one of the protest leaders noted, "Algerians want their voices to be heard too. They want democratic change." Right now, the rally has been disbanded and a surface calm has returned to the country's capital, but as another protest leader told the media, in an ominous sign to dictators all over the continent: "The fear is now gone," he said.
Algeria's president should pay attention to these words. If not, he will soon find out what Mr. Mubarak did too little too late - that the change this time, is inevitable. Resistance is futile.
Source:234next
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