Test for Algerian protesters
LAMINE CHIKHI ALGERIA's protest movement, which shook the country by ousting its veteran president in 2019, faces a critical test for its survival on Friday, with police poised to confront any who take to the streets. The movement, known as Hirak, is leaderless and unorganised, but after a year-long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it revived in February, bringing out demonstrators every Friday since then to demand wholesale political change. Though the protests are now much smaller than at their peak, many of the thousands who still regularly march each week appear ready to brave a harsher government approach.…