Algerians Pile Pressure on Regime With Massive Friday Rally

ALGEIRS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Algerians thronged streets nationwide in some of the biggest anti-government protests since they began three weeks ago, signaling their rejection of regime attempts to appease the anger and piling pressure on President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to immediately end his two-decade rule.

The largely peaceful demonstrations in the OPEC member that began Feb. 22 were initially called to force the ailing 82-year-old leader not to seek a fifth term in office in an election that was scheduled for April. After achieving that, the mostly young protesters have grown in confidence and are now calling for the overthrow of the ruling establishment, in an echo of the Arab uprisings of 2011.

Protesters carried children on their shoulders or walked hand-in-hand with ageing parents as they marched wrapped in Algerian flags in the capital and other major cities. Chants were dominated by calls for “le pouvoir” — the ruling elite and its coterie of backers in business and military circles — to step down.

“Leave means leave, now and quietly,” read a sign carried by a protester in Algiers, where tens of thousands rallied. Echourouk TV said the protests were the biggest yet.

Overwhelmed by the size of the crowds, police opened barricades they had erected to bar access to some of the capital’s arteries. Algerian media said similar large protests were underway in dozens of the country’s towns and cities.

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After returning from two weeks of medical treatment in Switzerland, Bouteflika announced on Monday he was canceling the election, dismissing the governmentand beginning work on a plan for constitutional reforms and the election of a new president.

Newly appointed Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui said Thursday that authorities were intent on charting a course forward that was inclusive of all voices in Algeria.

Credited with healing the country after a decade-long civil war in the 1990s, Bouteflika has been largely incapacitated and rarely seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, but was put forward for another term as an understanding on a successor proved elusive. The opposition is fragmented and no clear leaders have emerged to bid for top office.

Protesters saw this week’s moves as an attempt to buy time and sap their enthusiasm, and called for an even bigger turnout. But organizers said demonstrators should avoid marching on the presidential compound as they had on previous Fridays to lessen the risk of violence.

Source: Bloomberg Business News