The Algerian city of Kherrata is preparing to celebrate the second anniversary of the Hirak, the first big march against the 5th mandate of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. It was Saturday, February 16, 2019, an emblematic date because a week later, the demonstrations were widespread in the country until pushing the former head of State to give up this ambition to run for a 5th mandate at the head of Algeria.
Many Algerian citizens stepped foot in the city of Kherrata on Monday, February 15, 2021 to prepare for the celebration of the anniversary of the popular protest movement against the too-long mandate of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The demonstrators marched peacefully, brandishing the national flag and the Berber emblem, and chanting the usual Hirak slogans while calling for change. This Tuesday, February 16, 2021 is therefore a memorable day for the Algerian people and the historic city of Kherrata, known with Sétif and Guelma, for having been the scene of the massacres of May 8, 1945. Bloody repressions that followed nationalist, independence and anti-colonialist demonstrations during French colonization.
The Algerians organized a big march to commemorate this noble fight for the respect of the Constitution and democracy. They also condemn the harsh prison sentences imposed on the demonstrators arrested during this historic event. On Monday, 15 February 2021, the Algerian justice system sentenced several Hirak activists to prison terms, the heaviest of which was imposed on the young activist Chems Eddine Laalami, dit Brahim. The latter was sentenced to two years in prison, with a fine of 200,000 dinars (1,250 euros), by the court of Bordj Bou Arreridj, near Algiers. A 29-year-old tailor, Brahim Laalami is an emblematic figure who initiated the vast protest movement. He went out, a few days before the Hirak, to Bordj Bou Arreridj with a big sign denouncing the candidacy for a fifth term of Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Moreover, since the fall of the head of state Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the inhabitants of Kherrata have hardly stopped demonstrating every Saturday, to demand change.
