Members of Parliament fight with each other over Financial Act 2016

Everything was ready on Monday for angry members of Parliament to trigger a dispute over the Financial Act 2016.

Opposition deputies were represented in Green Algeria’s Block which includes the MSP party, Ennahda Movement and the National Reform Movement. They were supported by deputies from the FFS party, the Justice and Development Front and the Workers’ Party.

The beginning was with a sit-in with press at around 9 a.m. The opposition deputies explained their position toward the legal text, accusing corrupt businessmen of “starving Algerians and imposing taxes.”

The deputies held the Finance Commission of being partner with the government to deprive them of presenting their amendments.

They criticized the government for neglecting Parliament’s rules and regulations.

After the press conference, the angry deputies marched in the building hall, raising many slogans criticizing the draft law.

They believe that businessmen imposed their control on the Algerian State by the Finance Act 2016 and washed hands of it.

“Passing the law means killing people” and “no State privatization” were some of the raised slogans. The protesters tried to prevent Parliament’s Speaker Mohamed Larbi Ould Khelifa from reaching the tribune to chair the session. A fight took place.

The deputies are against changes made “secretly” by the Budget Commission to Articles 2 (about new taxes), 53 (about debt), 66 (about privatization) and 71 (Parliament’s validity).

The opposition deputies also tried to prevent the Finance Commission recorder Saida Bounab from presenting a complementary draft report. She was protected by the FLN’s representatives.

Pressure was triggered again when Article 66 was discussed. Deputies started shouting and reciting the national anthem. Then, they left the building and took to the street, shouting “they stole the country!”, “they wanted to sell the country!”