Algerian security forces have foiled a terrorist plot targeting weekly Hirak pro-democracy protests, the judiciary said Tuesday.
Security forces neutralized a terrorist network that had planned to booby trap two vehicles in the cities of Tizi Ouzou and Bejaia and detonate them during anti-government rallies, according to a statement from the prosecution.
Five suspects were arrested in Tizi Ouzou in connection with a case involving “possession of weapons of war and explosives with an intent to use them in terrorist acts”, the statement added.
Security forces seized arms including a pump-action shotgun and a Kalashnikov assault rifle and ammunition, as well as electronic devices and two vehicles.
The Hirak protest movement was sparked in February 2019 over then-president Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s bid for a fifth term in office.
The ailing strongman was forced to step down weeks later, but the Hirak continued with demonstrations, demanding a sweeping overhaul of a ruling system in place since Algeria’s independence from France in 1962.
Meanwhile, some family members of political detainees took part in the weekly demonstrations of university students. They raised photos of their relatives and demanded their immediate release.
Protesters chanted Hirak slogans calling for a “free and democratic Algeria” and “a civil not a military state,” and booed President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
They criticized Tebboune’s decision to call for early elections on June 12 in response to the country's political and economic crisis.
Tebboune has reached out to the protest movement, while also seeking to neutralize it.
“No elections with the mafia gang (in power),” protesters chanted.
