BERBER SPRING

The 'Berber Spring' (in Kabyle, ''Tafsut Imazighen'' or simply ''Tafsut'') was a period of political mobilization, cultural and labor and street agitation, and criminalization of political activity in Kabylie. It is traditionally dated beginning on March 10, 1980 with the banning of a speech by intellectual Mouloud Mammeri at Hasnaoua University in Tizi-Ouzou. A critical point was the coordinated arrest of hundreds of Berber activists, students and doctors on April 20, sparking a general strike.