There were pro-democracy protests in Algeria in 2019 known that have come to be known as hirak. This movement sought to push for more rights and the end of junta rule. Although successful in forcing Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign, the future of Algeria’s hirak democracy movement hangs in a balance. The Associated Press had an article that appears in USNews on this prospective. Here is an excerpt:

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 Hirak’s second anniversary, Feb. 22, after a year of virus lockdown.

Read the full article here. Also, visit the main Democracy Chronicles section on World Democracy