Moorish Orthodox Church in America -
The Diocese of New Jersey
Ongs Hat Road, Pemberton, New Jersey
The planned demonstration was the latest show of popular discontent in this North African nation, where economic hardship and the deaths of dozens of protesters during riots in the eastern Kabyle region this year have generated frustration. Kabyle is home to Algeria's Berbers, who make up nearly a third of the country's 30 million people and claim to be the original inhabitants of North Africa. Kabyle was the scene of near daily clashes earlier this year in which at least 60 people were killed and 2,000 injured. On Wednesday, many of the protesters were blocked on roads as they headed from the mountainous Kabyle region to Algiers, setting off clashes between police and demonstrators.
Police used tear gas, trying to disperse crowds in Naciria in Kabyle; in Tidjelabine, 30 miles east of Algiers; and in M'Chdallah, 90 miles east of the capital. Several protesters suffered slight injuries and several dozen were arrested, protest organizers said. Berber leaders called the demonstration to coincide with the start of the World Youth Festival, which is expected to draw up to 15,000 participants to Algeria over the next few days.
Protesters had planned to march to a city sports stadium, where the festival's opening ceremony was to be held later Wednesday.
In June, authorities banned all demonstrations in Algiers after one million people took to the streets in a protest. Police used water cannon and tear gas to break up the crowds, and at least six people were killed. That demonstration came after the weeks of demonstrations in Kabyle. Rioting spread across that region starting in April after a Berber student was shot and killed while in police custody.
Protesters want more recognition for the Berber population, but the unrest has also become a way for Algerians to demand action against widespread poverty and corruption. Kabyle is now relatively calm, but Berber protesters have staged several demonstrations around Algiers. In a report last week, a government-appointed commission criticized the way the police handled the riots. It said police provoked protesters by shooting live ammunition into crowds, beating people and shouting obscenities. Unrest in the Kabyle region comes on top of an Islamic insurgency now in its ninth year. The uprising erupted after the army canceled 1992 legislative elections that a Muslim fundamentalist party was poised to win.
Beloved fellow Moors, these people - the Berbers - are our ethnic and spiritual kindred; Whether of Iberian, Hibernian, or other Moor-derived ancestry, it is our duty, as fellow ethnics and as fellow humans - to take any steps of which we are capable to stop the Algerian government from continuing this racial oppression and abuse.
I humbly ask that all of our Moorish Orthodox faithful in the diocese of New Jersey communicatre their concern to the Permanent Representative of Algeria at the United Nations, Mr. Abdallah Baali, who may be reached at 326 East 48th Street, New York, New York 10017, by telephone at (212) 750-1960 or 1961, or by facsimile at (212)
Please, be ever mindful of the fact that - as our Scriptures teach - "Opression is a worse sin than murder" - and do not fail to speak out against the oppression of our sisters and brothers in Algeria.
+ Sotemohk
Bishop of New Jersey
