Protesters took to city streets across Algeria on April 2, with demonstrators rallying at locations throughout the country and calling for the fall of a regime they have come to see as having oppressed them for generations.
Their progress has been extraordinary and their achievements equally so. In opposition to a state backed by one of the largest militaries in the region, the mass protests, or Hirak, have forced unimaginable concessions from a government that has consistently prized stability above progress and continuity above change. However, now, in its third year, there is growing concern among the Hirak's ranks over the entry of the country's Islamists into the movement and, unfettered by domestic restrictions on internet usage, the dominant voice overseas Islamists are seeking to assume.
