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Analisis Expesive About Diferente Conomy Things: Long-Serving President Abdelaziz Bouteflika Resigned in April
Analisis Expesive About Diferente Conomy Things: Long-Serving President Abdelaziz Bouteflika Resigned in April
Demonstrations in the capital on Friday were some of the largest since protests
began in February.
Long-serving President Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigned in April after weeks of
street protests.
But his departure was not enough for the predominantly young protesters who have
taken to the streets for 37 consecutive Fridays.
They are calling for sweeping government reforms, accusing leaders of widespread
corruption and state repression.
Algerian youth lead the call for change
How Algeria's army sacrificed a president to keep power
For Algeria's 82-year old former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, it is "game over",
as slogans on the country's streets have been saying since mid-February.
But his resignation, announced on Tuesday, does not mean the end of the protests
that have seen hundreds of thousands of people, of all ages, peacefully
demonstrating for seven weeks.
They were rejecting Mr Bouteflika's candidacy for re-election to a fifth term in the
presidency he had occupied since 1999.
} But from the start, the protests were about more than Mr Bouteflika.
The whole "system", or "pouvoir", had to go, placards and online posts demanded.
So when the army's chief of staff, Lt Gen Ahmed Gaid Salah, announced on 26
March that article 102 of the constitution - allowing the president's removal on
grounds of ill health - should be applied, protesters had won something, but their
response was cautious.
The following Friday, marchers in the country's second city, Oran, carried signs
saying: "102 is half the answer, the whole gang has to go."
The hashtags now were: "Leave means Leave" and "Throw them all out".
Protesters in the capital, Algiers, chanted: "Bouteflika get out, and take Gaid Salah
with you."
A second statement from Gen Gaid Salah demanded the "immediate" application
of article 102.