Algeria's Independence Hero Hocine Ait-Ahmed Dies Aged 89 Wednesday Dec 30,2015

 

Hocine Ait-Ahmed was one of the first to rebel against French rule in 1954, sparking the war of independence.

 

Years later, he was forced into exile. He died on Wednesday in Switzerland aged 89

Ait-Ahmed was the last of nine heroes of the independence war to die.

Ait-Ahmed had been a prominent critic of the military's control over the political system after independence from France in 1962.

A state funeral was held in the Algerian capital on Thursday Dec 31,2015, which was broadcast live on TV.

However, his family refused to allow him to be buried alongside the other heroes in Algiers.
Instead, the burial took place in his home village 110km (70 miles) east of Algiers.

Tens of thousands of Algerians have attended the burial of national independence hero Hocine Ait-Ahmed. 

Crowds attending his burial shouted "Algeria free and democratic", the slogan of the Front of Socialist Forces party founded by Ait-Ahmed

 

The ceremony near the mountain village in the Kabyle region was converted into a scene of chaos by surging crowds of chanting mourners.