Algeria marks 60 years of independence with military parade

Agencies | Algiers                                                  

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Algeria celebrated 60 years of independence from France on Tuesday with nationwide ceremonies, a pardon of 14,000 prisoners and its first military parade in decades.

Opposition figures and pro-democracy activists called the elaborate celebrations an effort to distract attention from Algeria’s economic and political troubles by glorifying the army, and called for the release of political prisoners, the AP reported.

The events mark the country’s official declaration of independence on July 5, 1962, after a brutal seven-year war that ended 132 years of colonial rule. The war, which Algerian officials say killed around 1.5 million people, remains a point of tension in relations between Algeria and France.

Warplanes whizzed overhead, armored vehicles rolled through central Algiers, and warships were decked out in the city harbor. Algerian flags flew from buildings across the country, and patriotic songs rang out from loudspeakers.

“A day of glory for a new era” was the official slogan of the celebration, which includes concerts, sports events, lectures and photo exhibits retracing the horrors of the war.

Previous presidents abandoned holding military parades, but President Abdelmadjid Tebboune revived the tradition for this anniversary, for the first time in 38 years.

Tebboune began the ceremony by laying a wreath at a monument to “martyrs of the revolution,” and inaugurated a monument dedicated to foreigners who joined the fight for Algerian independence. He then mounted a military vehicle and greeted representatives of Algeria’s armed forces while waving to crowds who chanted: “One, Two, Three, Long Live Algeria!”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of Hamas and the presidents of Tunisia, Niger, Congo and Ethiopia took part in Tuesday’s anniversary events, standing on a platform erected in front of the Grand Mosque of Algiers.

In a speech, Tebboune underlined that “the Algerian army, heir to the National Liberation Army, constitutes the protective shield of Algeria.”