ALGIERS, March 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Hundreds of thousands of Algerians rallied on Friday to demand the immediate resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who is fighting for his political survival in the face of unrelenting protests and the desertion of long-time allies.
Protesters carrying the national flag packed central Algiers.
Bouteflika, 82 and rarely seen in public since suffering a stroke five years ago, bowed to the protesters last week by reversing plans to stand in elections for a fifth term.
But he stopped short of quitting as head of state and said he would stay on until a new constitution is adopted. The move further enraged Algerians, and many of Bouteflika’s allies have turned against him.
Bouteflika has a track record of outmanoeuvring anyone perceived as a threat. First elected president in 1999, he wrested power from the secretive military-based establishment known as “le pouvoir” (the power).
In 2015, Bouteflika sacked powerful intelligence chief Mohamed Mediene, dubbed “Algeria’s God”. Last year he dismissed about a dozen top military officers.
In the most dramatic development in a month of demonstrations, Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaed Salah threw the army’s weight behind the protesters on Wednesday, saying they had expressed “noble aims”.
The generals have intervened in the past at momentous times, including cancelling an election which Islamists were poised to win in 1992, triggering a civil war in which an estimated 200,000 people were killed.
Braving heavy rain, Algerians held up a poster with photographs of the people they want to dethrone, including Bouteflika, his brother Said – widely believed to be running the country – and the newly-appointed prime minister. — NNN-AGENCIES
