Algeria dissolves pro-democracy group amid wider crackdown

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algerian authorities have dissolved a decades-old pro-democracy group that participated in the peaceful protests which helped force the North African country’s long-time President Abdelaziz Bouteflika from office in 2019. The Youth Action Group, known by its French acronym, RAJ, and the left-leaning Movement for Democracy and Socialism party that was also suspended by the same decree Thursday, appear to be the latest targets of a crackdown on Algeria’s dissenting voices. Last year, Algerian authorities dissolved the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights.