Black Spring (Algeria)

The Black Spring was an indigenist uprising coordinated predominately by Amazigh people in Kabylie, Algeria in 2001.

Background

Amazigh people had face hundreds of years of war and genocide, the expropriation of land, destruction of culture and racist practices from the Algerian population. The killing of an Amazigh teenager by police on the 18th of April, 2001 and the arresting of his friends in suspicious circumstances led to riots.

Events

Starting of the 21st of April, people began fighting with police, burning down police stations, welfare offices, government buildings and the offices of all political parties. After police were removed from the region, not only was there very little crime but further protests into the capital of Algiers were organized. Despite pressure to institutionalize from academics and NGOs to form political parties or charities, the protesters continued to use insurrectionary tactics and rejected the measures of the state.

Results

The uprising led to the withdrawing of police and military units from the whole of Kabylie, the reinstantement of the traditional djemmâa system of popular assembly to replace the state and the recongition of Tamazight, the Amazigh language across Algeria.