Berber flag on Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, which were formerly inhabited by the Guanches, an ancient Berber people. The flag is composed of blue, green, and yellow horizontal bands of the same height, and a Tifinagh letter "yaz" or "aza". Each colour corresponds to an aspect of Tamazgha, the territory inhabited by Berbers in North Africa: The "yaz" (ⵣ) symbolizes the "free man", which is the meaning of the Berber word "amazigh", the Berbers' own name for themselves (endonym). It is in red, the colour of life, and also the colour of resistance. The Berber flag thus symbolizes the entire
Berber separatism in North Africa few of the demands of the Berber Spring have been met by the state, and the Berber language is now a national language of Algeria. However, this is still distinct from Arabic, which remains the official language, and many other points of contention remain. In 2014 and 2015 a number of ethnic riot incidents plagued Algeria, with a dozen mortal casualties in violence between ethnic Arabs and Berbers. In February 2017, protests erupted in Algeria, with some 500 protesters marching. The protest was organized by human rights groups, some trade unionists and a small opposition party. Algeria's main opposition forces