National Committee for Defending Rights of Algerian Unemployed to protest on Workers' Day
The National Committee for Defending Rights of Algerian Unemployed criticized “police harassments and abuses†against a number of unemployed and members of the Committee in various Algerian localities including Mostaghanem (west), Skikda and Bejaia (east) and Ouregla (South of Algeria) because they protest legally and legitimately to get their rights to work.
The committee said in a statement, available to Echorouk, that a member of the Executive Committee and Representative in Skikda (east of Algeria) Riad Lamri was subject to harassment on Friday by security agents, who took him to the police station and release him after hours of interrogation and intimidation because he condemned publicly cronyism and nepotism in distributing jobs at a local level.
“Lamri Riad is subject to harassment by security services since the establishment of the establishment of the National Committee for Unemployed last month”, the statement explained.
“We denounce the arrest of two other members in Bejaia (east of Algiers) by police during a sit-in out of the court in solidarity with a representative of the committee in Mostaghanem (west of Algeria) Dalila Touat, which was declared not guilty by court last Thursday following her condemnation in the charge of “inciting gathering through distributing publications”. Such practices are an attempt to intimidate leaders of the committee. We denounce the police interrogations with members of the committee instead of arresting looters of people’s money and barons of corruption in Algeria. Police opened an investigation on the identity of the committee’s prominent leaders and instead of waiting time with us, we call upon security services to prosecute thieves and corrupt who looted public wealth”, the statement added.
“We insist on the meeting here on May 1st, Workers Day, in Algiers 1st May Square. We call upon all trade and civil unions to join us in this protest to unify the peaceful struggle and pressure on public authorities in its various levels of responsively within the state’s hierarchy in order to meet the list of legitimate and urgent demands, at a time Algeria notices, since moths, unprecedented international public and youth protests, and although some positive results for the benefit of workers are realized but they remain far from Algerians and youth aspirations in particular, that would ensure some stability”, the Committee asserted.