ALGERIAN FORCES CLASH WITH AMAZIGH ACTIVISTS IN WAKE OF ELECTIONS

ALGERIAN FORCES CLASH WITH AMAZIGH ACTIVISTS IN WAKE OF ELECTIONS
Algerian security forces clashed with Amazigh rights activists in the northern city of Tizi Ouzou on Monday, days after an election marked by a historically low turnout garnered a fourth term for ailing 77-year-old President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Analysts and activists say that authorities provoked the violence toward Amazighs, often pejoratively referred to as Berbers, after years of relative calm to distract from concerns that kept Algerians — of all stripes — away from the polls. The clashes started Sunday during a march to commemorate the April 20, 1980 launch of an Amazigh rights movement, dubbed retrospectively the Amazigh Spring. Activists who participated to push for political and socioeconomic parity with Arabs were met with a violent crackdown, demonstrators told Al Jazeera.
In Algeria, as in neighboring Tunisia and Morocco, Amazighs are legally barred from starting their own political parties, even though many Amazighs say ruling administrations act exclusively on the behalf of Arabs. On Sunday “women and children were running for safety in every direction,” according to Amazigh rights activist Kamira Nait Sid who participated in the protest. Demonstrators said over 60 injured protesters were admitted to one local hospital, and another 50 were arrested.