April 15, 2021 - 12:25 AM
ALGIERS, Algeria - Algeria's pro-democracy movement is at a crossroads two years after it ousted the country's long-serving leader, confronting fears it's been infiltrated by a group with links to an Islamist party outlawed during a dark era of strife in the 1990s.
Members of the Europe-based Rachad group cannot be clearly identified, nor do they advertise their presence. But it's widely believed that they are among the thousands of protesters of the Hirak movement marching each Friday. Algeria's president and its powerful military have castigated Rachad, without naming it.
The Hirak movement forced President Abdelaziz Bouteflika from office in 2019 with its giant weekly protests peacefully demanding change in Algeria's opaque power structure in which the army plays a crucial shadow role. Protesters began pouring anew into the streets of Algiers, the capital, and other cities starting on Hirakâs second anniversary, Feb. 22, after a year of virus lockdown.