ALGIERS, March 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) —Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Algeria to demand the resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Estimates say crowds in the capital, Algiers, reached a million. It is the sixth successive Friday of mass anti-government protests in the country.
Algerian police fired tear gas at crowds as they attempted to reach the presidency, witnesses said.
The renewed calls for regime change come just days after
army chief of staff Lt Gen Gaed Salah demanded that Bouteflika be declared unfit to rule.
Demonstrations against Bouteflika began last month after the president, who has seldom been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, announced that he would stand for another term.
In response, the president agreed to not stand for a fifth term in upcoming elections, which have been delayed.
However the move did not go down well with protesters, who said his decision not to run was a cynical move to prolong his 20-year rule.
They are now calling for the departure of the president and also an entire generation of Algerian political leaders, including those who would be in line to succeed him.
Lt Gen Gaed Salah – who is also deputy defence minister and seen as loyal to Bouteflika – this week called for the use of Article 102, which allows the Constitutional Council to declare the position of president vacant if the leader is unfit to rule.
The ruling party, the National Liberation Front (FLN), backed the general’s call.
Under the constitution, the head of the Senate, Abdelkhader Bansallah, would become the acting head of state until an election could be held.
Despite the significant intervention, the call from the army chief of staff does not appear to be enough for protesters and opposition parties, who have continued to protest on the streets. — NNN-AGENCIES