With coronavirus restrictions limiting its public activities, the Algerian protest movement Hirak has found itself under fresh attack, with many of its most vocal proponents jailed as part of a government campaign that rights groups, such as Amnesty International, have slammed as "unprecedented" within the country's recent history.
From its outset in February of last year, the protests presented an unrelenting and unparalleled challenge to the very core of Algerian political power, the pouvoir, the mysterious cadre of military and state apparatchiks that encircle the presidency.
