Anger Is Spreading in a Tinderbox on Europe’s Doorstep
Algerians are getting restless to return to the streets and resume their protests against the military-led elite.
Algerian protesters gather during a weekly antigovernment demonstration in the capital, Algiers, on March 13.
Photographer: RYAD KRAMDI/AFPIt’s just after 8 p.m. in Algiers and the curfew imposed by the government to stop the coronavirus’s spread has been in effect for 15 minutes. Around this time each evening, when the blazing summer heat eases, three friends meet in the city’s western suburbs to smoke and mull the latest pandemic news.
Despite the rules on movement and public gatherings, they don’t fear arrest. This working-class area of the Algerian capital has always been difficult for security forces to patrol. Now they don’t dare visit at all, reckoning that anger and despair could easily explode into riots.