Algeria, when soccer is scary
Two days later, the same measure was announced for the clash between USM Alger and Paradou AC, another club from a district of Algiers. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand the real reasons for these postponements.
The postponement of these two matches can only be explained by the fact that fans of the capital's most popular clubs, MC Alger and USM Alger, were unable to create a strong atmosphere and, as usual, chant slogans hostile to the ruling power, just a few days before the celebration of the fifth anniversary of the "Hirak", the peaceful popular revolt that brought down Bouteflika's regime in 2019.
Founded in 1921, Mouloudia Club d'Alger is Algeria's oldest soccer club. It was born long before the creation of nationalist political parties demanding the country's independence. Mouloudia is more than a soccer club. From the outset, every one of its soccer matches was a battle against the clubs of the French colonialists.
This was the case right up to the famous match against the Association Sportive de Saint-Eugène on March 11, 1956. On that day, the Saint-Eugène stadium (now Bologhine) was a veritable battleground between the club, symbol of Algeria's liberation struggle, and the colonialists. After 90 minutes of play, the battle spilled outside the stadium and the colonial police fired on the Mouloudia d'Alger supporters, leaving dozens dead and several injured.
This was enough for the Algerian club to announce its withdrawal from the championship. It was followed by all the other clubs born in its fold, distinguishing themselves either by the name "Mouloudia", recalling the birth of the Prophet of Islam, or by the qualifier "Musulman" to distinguish them from the clubs of the pieds noirs.
After independence, the Mouloudia was the club dear to all Algerians. It was the only club with supporters in every town and region of the country. In December 1976, Mouloudia became the first Maghreb club to win the African Champion Clubs' Cup, and the first Maghreb club to win the treble of league, national cup and African championship. It is the only Algerian club to attract more than 25,000 fans away from home. At home, it plays in front of more than 80,000 spectators.
Created in the Casbah of Algiers, the birthplace of the November 1954 revolution and the 1957 Battle of Algiers, MC Alger remains to this day a symbol of all social and political demands. Its supporters were the first to chant political slogans hostile to the government in the mid-80s.
They were followed by other supporters of the country's most popular clubs: USM Alger, USM EL-harrach, JS Kabylie, Mouloudia d'oral, CS Constantine and others.
The Mouloudia d'Alger and all Algerian soccer clubs used to strike fear into the hearts of colonial forces. Sixty-two years after the country's independence, it is the rulers of this same country who are afraid of soccer clubs and their supporters. Supporters who represent a people who are not ready to give in to a power that despises and starves them. Although the 2019 "hirak" originated in the towns of Khenchela in the Aurès and Kherrata in Kabylia, it was in Algiers and under pressure from soccer club supporters that it grew and gained momentum to last two long years. It was only halted by the Covid 19 pandemic, which benefited the powers that be.
The few attempts to revive the movement were quickly stifled by severe repression. More than 1,000 prisoners of conscience were thrown into jail, with over 400 still behind bars.
As the fifth anniversary of the "hirak" approached, every city in Algeria was abuzz with activity. Particularly the capital and its working-class districts, overrun by inexplicable misery in a country immensely rich in oil and mining resources.
In order to stem the revival of the hirak, the authorities have taken the lead by incarcerating several figures of this peaceful popular movement and keeping those who make up its leadership under judicial supervision and suspended prison sentences.
These include Fethi Gherras, coordinator of the Mouvement pour la Démocratie Sociale, Karim Tabou, National Secretary of the Union Démocratique et Sociale, Mohcine Belabbas, former Secretary General of the RCD, Fodil Boumala and Saad Bouakba, both journalists banned from publication, and many others.
In addition to the neutralization of these leading figures of the "hirak", supporters of the most popular soccer clubs are banned from gathering. How far will the repression go?
On February 22, we'll know more about this tug-of-war between an unpopular government imposed by force and a people who have run out of patience and want only one thing: to establish the rule of law.