Algeria protesters chant: “Peaceful! Peaceful!”
ALGIERS, March 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A plane carrying Algeria’s ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has landed near Algiers, state media say.
The 82-year-old leader spent two weeks in a hospital in Geneva. Since having a stroke in 2013 he has rarely been seen in public.
The president’s plane flew to the Swiss city on Sunday before returning to Boufarik military airport, reports say.
Bouteflika’s announcement that he would stand for re-election next month sparked huge protests across Algeria.
The demonstrations, which have seen tens of thousands of people take part, are thought to represent the biggest threat so far to Bouteflika’s 20-year rule.
Privately-owned Ennahar TV reported that the plane had landed at Boufarik military airport in Algeria, but did not broadcast any footage of the flight.
Instead, it carried a live flight tracker map which showed the plane approaching Blida Province, where the airport is based.
The Algerian presidency later confirmed Bouteflika had returned after two weeks of “periodic medical checks” in Switzerland, state media APS reported.
Bouteflika’s office previously insisted that he was just going to Geneva for routine health check-ups, but it led to speculation that his condition was far more serious.
Bouteflika has said that the mass demonstrations, which broke out last month after he confirmed he would seek a fifth term, could plunge the country into “chaos”.
Teachers and their students have gone on strike at several universities, with thousands taking part in protests on Sunday.
Thousands of students have spilled out into the streets of Algiers, waving the Algerian flag and chanting: “Bouteflika, there will be no fifth term.”
The student protests comes after demonstrations on Friday saw tens of thousands of people take part – possibly the biggest protests in the capital in 28 years.
Many who demonstrated that day initially gathered at university sites before heading onto the streets.
The wave of protests was triggered by the announcement last month that Bouteflika would seek a fifth term in office in April’s election. — NNN-AGENCIES