Hundreds took to the streets in Kabyle (Algeria) last 12 January to celebrate the Amazigh New Year, 2962 acording to the Berber calendar. The Movement for Autonomy in Kabyle (MAK) had made a call to demonstrate for autonomy, a peaceful, long-running tradition in this this Berber-majority region of Algeria. This time, however, the demonstrators saw their progress blocked by a large police presence. Despite the efforts of MAK members to talk the police officers into allowing the protest, the demonstration was finally called off. There were some speeches proclaiming the legality of the march and the legitimacy of the demand for decentralisation. MAK representatives claim that they still can't understand why the parade was banned, but have declared that Algerian authorities might fear an uprising similar to those taking place across Northern African countries. Moreover, last New Year's march gathered thousands of people, much more than expected and which was likely to have alarmed the Algerian Government.

Students protest suppressed

Noticeably, a few days later the Kabylian community was targeted again by security forces. On Sunday 15 January, a group of students held a night march in Mouloud Mammeri University in Tizi-Ouzou to protest against insecurity and crime in the campus. The police violently suppressed the protest, spreading a fresh wave of anger and condemnation among the Berbers. MAK issued a communiqué which branded the Algerian government as a 'racist regime' and called on Kabyles to boycott forecoming elections.

Student protests are a sensitive matter in Algeria as universities were in the core of disturbances and Government repression during the so-called Black-Spring in 2001.

Amazigh reawakening

There have been some signs marking a revival of the Amazigh identity throughout North Africa during the last year. A Tuareg uprising in Northern Mali last week has reopened old wounds, while in post-rebellion Tunisia the Berber community wants Tamazigh language to be official at media and taught at schools, as was public asked during a well-attended demonstration last 25 December. Also in Libya, Amazighs want their cultural rights to be respected by the newly rebuilt State.