Algeria holds pro-Polisario sit-in, bans solidarity with Palestinians

Algeria has allowed a sit-in in support of its Polisario militia proxies, meanwhile it has not authorized marches in solidarity with Palestine, which it claims to support domestically and internationally.

Aware that the Polisario’s separatist thesis does not attract Algerian masses, Algerian authorities allowed a sit-in to condemn the French decision to back Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara territory.

Rhetorically, the Algerian regime has used the popular Palestinian cause to try to whitewash its legitimacy at home. The Algerian regime figureheads have even surfed on antisemitism, radicalism, and populism by referring to Israel as the “entity” in their domestic speeches, while urging a two-state solution when speaking to the West.

The Algerian regime is well-aware that the Palestinian cause is popular and any marches could derail into a pro-democracy protest, following the example of the 2019 Hirak protests that forced former ailing President from seeking a fifth term.

During the Hirak, no Polisario flag could be seen, as separatism in the Sahara is widely seen as an enterprise of the army.

Last month, Algeria said it banned all music festivals across the country under the pretext of “solidarity with Gaza,” an argument that hides the regime’s fear of gatherings that could turn into violent protests.

Algeria has previously banned its own premier league matches, to prevent fans from attending stadiums and chanting anti-regime slogans.

In neighboring Morocco, whose diplomatic ties with Israel are often targeted by the Algerian regime, pro-Palestinian marches bring together hundreds of thousands in different cities wherein citizens gather and disperse in peace.

Amid a failing economy and soaring inflation, the Algerian regime fear that masses of disenchanted youth could use festivals to lash out at an inefficient government that has dilapidated the country’s oil and gas wealth.

The return of mass pro-democracy protests which forced Bouteflika to give up a fifth term in 2019 still haunts the recycled Algerian military regime led by the duo Chengriha-Tebboune.

The ban also comes in a context of recurring water protests in the country’s impoverished cities, such as Tiaret, where water supply stopped for weeks.