ALGIERS, March 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A total of 183 people were injured during protests across Algeria on Friday against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s bid for election to a fifth term, the state news agency APS said citing the health ministry.
One person died of a heart attack, officials said earlier.
Tens of thousands of protesters called on the ailing, 82-year-old Bouteflika to abandon plans to seek re-election in an April presidential vote — Algeria’s biggest anti-government rallies since the Arab Spring eight years ago.
Friday’s protests were mostly peaceful but scuffles between police and protesters broke out in the evening near the presidential place in the capital Algiers.
Algiers was quiet on Saturday.
Large-scale demonstrations — rarely seen in Algeria with its ubiquitous security services — against Bouteflika’s re-election move began a week ago, but Friday saw the biggest turnout yet.
Bouteflika suffered a stroke in 2013 and has been seen in public only a few times since. His re-election bid stoked resentment among Algerians who believe he is not fit to run the major oil- and gas-producing country.
Bouteflika’s campaign manager had said he would submit his official application on Sunday, the deadline for candidates. Bouteflika, who turned 82 on Saturday, has not directly addressed the protests.
Meanwhile, Bouteflika has changed his campaign manager for an April election in which he is expected to seek a fifth term, state news agency APS said on Saturday.
News of Abdelghani Zaalane’s appointment came a day after tens of thousands of Algerians protested against a further presidential term for the 82-year-old, who is in Switzerland for medical checks. Zaalane is a minister. — NNN-AGENCIES
