ANSD : Thousands of Algerian students extend protests against Bouteflika’s re-election plan

TUE 23 - 4 - 2024

Date: Feb 27, 2019
Source: The Daily Star

Folder: Elections

Thousands of Algerian students extend protests against Bouteflika’s re-election plan

‘Ballot box’ to decide if ailing Algeria president gets fifth term: Prime Minister

ALGIERS: Thousands of Algerian students protested in the capital and other cities for a fifth day running Tuesday against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s plan to extend his 20-year rule by seeking a fifth term, witnesses said. Despite the rare outpouring of public dissent, Bouteflika’s campaign manager said the president would file formal papers for re-election on March 3, 15 days before the vote.

“It is [his] right to be a candidate,” Abdel-Malek Sellal told a crowd in televised remarks.

It was the fifth day of demonstrations but the first covered by state media after its journalists called on their employers to allow them to cover the protests.

Students were demanding that Bouteflika, 81, drop his intention to seek re-election in the April 18 presidential vote. Bouteflika suffered a stroke in 2013, has been seen in public only a few times since and has given no known speeches in years.

Protesters, who chanted “peaceful, peaceful,” were also asking for government steps to provide jobs.

More than a quarter of Algerians under 30 are unemployed.

“Many young people got their university degree but they are still unemployed,” a student who gave his name as Djahid said.

Dozens marched in central Algiers while hundreds of students held rallies inside faculties as police sought to prevent them leaving the university to link up with counterparts in the streets.

Rallies drawing up to hundreds of people were also held in towns including Bejaia, Tizi Ouzou, Blida and Bouira, residents there told Reuters by telephone. The state news agency APS said the protesters were demanding “change and reform.”

“We are here today to make a change, to change things because the situation is rotten,” said a protester in Algiers who identified herself as Amina.

“We are against the fifth term, and we have to act hand in hand to change things in this country.”

At the Ben Aknoun university in Algiers, students blocked traffic and placed a coffin-shaped board in the middle of the road on top of which they put an Algerian flag and a picture of Bouteflika.

“Goodbye Bouteflika, goodbye Bouteflika,” the students chanted as they walked around the coffin.

The students’ protests came a day after lawyers took to the streets to protest Bouteflika’s decision. Journalists have called for protests Wednesday to denounce the censorship hitting state media, which have been prevented from covering the latest wave of protests.

“There is a popular will for a political change in the country. A peaceful change,” Faycal Metaoui, a local journalist, said.

“There is also a political current within the government calling for a change, because it’s the only solution. Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia says the change will come from the ballot boxes, but according to the opposition elections are rigged.”

Thousands of Algerians demonstrated Friday in the biggest protests since Bouteflika came to power 20 years ago. A new round of protests has been scheduled for this Friday.

Bouteflika has not directly addressed the protests.

The authorities announced earlier this week that he would be traveling to Geneva for unspecified medical checks, although there was no official confirmation he had left.

Many Algerians for years have avoided politics in public, fearing trouble from the omnipresent security services, or having simply stopped caring as the country has been run by the same group of veterans since the 1954-62 independence war with France.

Bouteflika himself has ruled since 1999 and is credited with ending a decadelong Islamist insurgency early in his rule.

Many Algerians have long tolerated a political system with little space for dissent as a price to pay for peace and stability.

But the new protest waves appears to have broken the long taboo on public discussion of politics.

According to Bouteflika’s opponents, there is no evidence he is in fit enough health to lead the country and that it is being ruled in his name by advisers.

Authorities say he retains a firm grip on public affairs despite the rarity of his appearances.

A weak and divided opposition faces high hurdles in mounting an electoral challenge.

Since the long-ruling FLN party again picked Bouteflika as its presidential candidate, several parties, trade unions and business groups have endorsed him.

Lower oil prices in recent years have damaged Algeria’s economy, rekindling discontent.

‘Ballot box’ to decide if ailing Algeria president gets fifth term: Prime Minister

_{Agence France Presse}
ALGIERS: Algeria’s prime minister Monday insisted voters would determine if ailing President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika gets a fifth term at the ballot box, after major protests against his candidacy.

Tens of thousands of people Friday took to the streets, including in the capital Algiers where demonstrations are forbidden, to vent their ire at Bouteflika’s bid to extend his 20 years in power at elections in April.

Presidential polls “will take place in less than two months, and everyone will make their choice freely,” Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia said in televised comments that were the first official reaction to the protests.

“Everyone has the right to support their candidate and be against any other candidate, the ballot box will decide in a peaceful and civilized way.”

The premier insisted Bouteflika has pledged to hold a national “conference, unprecedented in the history of Algeria” if he is re-elected, where “everything” can be discussed.

“Algeria has been through enough suffering and experienced enough reforms to have the opportunity to choose in peace and quiet,” he said.

The scale of the demonstrations Friday took many in the North African state by surprise.

A follow-up call for protests by a small opposition group drew hundreds in central Algiers Sunday, but they were met by a heavy police deployment and tear gas.

“Thank God the rallies were peaceful, but I urge vigilance” as “calls to demonstrate were from an unknown source,” Ouyahia said.

Students have called on social media for fresh demonstrations Tuesday, while teachers and university lecturers have urged their colleagues to join in.

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