Algiers Police Disperse Protest after Ministry Warning

Demonstrators march with banners and flags during a protest demanding political change, in Algiers, Algeria April 9, 2021. (Reuters)
Demonstrators march with banners and flags during a protest demanding political change, in Algiers, Algeria April 9, 2021. (Reuters)
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Algiers Police Disperse Protest after Ministry Warning

Demonstrators march with banners and flags during a protest demanding political change, in Algiers, Algeria April 9, 2021. (Reuters)
Demonstrators march with banners and flags during a protest demanding political change, in Algiers, Algeria April 9, 2021. (Reuters)

Police dispersed a small protest in central Algiers on Friday and stopped other small groups of demonstrators from reaching the city center after weekly rallies since February that usually draw thousands.

It was unclear whether the small number of protesters who came out on Friday was due to Islam's Eid al-Fitr holiday or tougher government rules announced on Sunday.

Dozens of police rushed at the 100 people who tried to protest in central Algiers, forcing them to flee, a witness said.

In Bab al-Oued district, about 200 protesters marched but were unable to move past a police cordon to join groups elsewhere in the city, witnesses said.

Eid al-Fitr, when people traditionally gather with family or friends at the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, began on Thursday and continued on Friday.

On Sunday the Interior Ministry warned that it would no longer tolerate protests held without a permit that named the organizers and included starting and finishing times.

It laid down a challenge to the leaderless protest movement that erupted in 2019 when hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets to protest then Abdelaziz Bouteflika's candidacy for a fifth term as president.

The mass protests led the army, Algeria's ultimate power brokers, to abandon Bouteflika and he stepped down. However, the protests continued with demonstrators demanding a more thorough overhaul of the ruling elite, an end to corruption and for the army to quit politics.

Although the security forces have not moved to quash the protests with force, international rights groups have accused them of attempting to suppress the movement using a wave of arrests.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, elected in a vote boycotted by the protest movement, has praised the demonstrations as a moment of national renewal, but has also sought to end them.

Official campaigning starts next week for parliamentary elections, which the protest movement also looks set to boycott and which Tebboune hopes will help him turn a page on the unrest.



Lebanon Bans Dealing with Hezbollah Financial Entity

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
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Lebanon Bans Dealing with Hezbollah Financial Entity

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

Lebanon's central bank has banned banks and brokerages from dealing with a Hezbollah-affiliated financial institution, according to a circular, a sign of the group's diminished sway over state affairs since its devastating war with Israel.

Keeping up military pressure on the Iran-backed group, Israel on Tuesday launched some of its heaviest airstrikes since a ceasefire in November, saying it hit training camps and weapons depots in east Lebanon. A security source in Lebanon said 12 people were killed, five of them Hezbollah fighters, Reuters reported.

Hezbollah has faced mounting pressures since the war, including financial ones.

In the circular, dated July 14 and reviewed by Reuters, Banque du Liban prohibited all licensed financial institutions in Lebanon from dealing directly or indirectly with unlicensed entities and listed Hezbollah's Al-Qard Al-Hassan as an example.

The US Department of Treasury imposed sanctions on Al-Qard Al-Hassan in 2007, saying Hezbollah used it as a cover to manage "financial activities and gain access to the international financial system".

Bolstered by its powerful arsenal, Hezbollah had long exercised decisive influence over Lebanese state affairs, but it was unable to impose its will in the formation of a post-war government in February.

Al-Qard Al-Hassan, founded in 1983, describes itself as a charitable organisation which provides loans to people according to Islamic principles that forbid interest. Israel struck some of its branches during its war with Hezbollah last year.

Operating as a not-for-profit organisation under a licence granted by the Lebanese government, it has more than 30 branches, mostly in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.

SHADOW ECONOMY

A Lebanese official said the central bank move had been in the works for months, and reflected US pressure on Lebanon to take action against Hezbollah's financial wing.

Nassib Ghobril, chief economist at Byblos Bank, said Lebanese banks were already careful to avoid dealing with Al-Qard Al-Hassan because it is under US sanctions.

"The important point is that finally the authorities are addressing the shadow economy in Lebanon, which is the real problem," he said, adding that authorities had long failed to address its "toxic effects".

In June, the European Commission included Lebanon in an updated list of high-risk jurisdictions presenting strategic deficiencies in their national anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.

Last year, global financial crime watchdog FATF placed Lebanon on its "grey list" of countries under special scrutiny.