Masinissa Guermah
Encyclopedia
Kabyle people
The Kabyle people are the largest homogeneous Algerian ethno-cultural and linguistical community and the largest nation in North Africa to be considered exclusively Berber. Their traditional homeland is Kabylie in the north of Algeria, one hundred miles east of Algiers...
(Berber
Berber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
) high school student arrested by Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
n gendarmes
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
on 18 April 2001. In circumstances still not clear, he received gunshot wounds inside the gendarmerie
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
, which he later died of on 20 April in the Mustapha Hospital.
His killing caused months-long riots in Kabylie
Kabylie
Kabylie or Kabylia , is a region in the north of Algeria.It is part of the Tell Atlas and is located at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. Kabylia covers several provinces of Algeria: the whole of Tizi Ouzou and Bejaia , most of Bouira and parts of the wilayas of Bordj Bou Arreridj, Jijel,...
; this series of events is referred to as the Black Spring
Black Spring (Kabylie)
The Black Spring was a series of violent disturbances and political demonstrations by Kabylian Berber activists in the Kabylia region of Algeria in 2001, which were met by repressive police measures and became a potent symbol of Kabylian discontent with the national government...
. The violence was fuelled by an Algerian national campaign to impose Arabic language on its people in place of indigenous languages, including Kabyle.
Sources
See also
- Black Spring (Kabylie)Black Spring (Kabylie)The Black Spring was a series of violent disturbances and political demonstrations by Kabylian Berber activists in the Kabylia region of Algeria in 2001, which were met by repressive police measures and became a potent symbol of Kabylian discontent with the national government...
- BerberismBerberismBerberism is a political-cultural movement of Berber ethnic nationalism, found mainly in Kabylia, Algeria and later in Morocco...