Hundreds of lawyers in black robes took to the streets of
downtown Algiers on Thursday to press President Abdelaziz
Bouteflika to step down after 20 years in power, adding momentum to
the biggest protests there since the 2011 Arab Spring.
Security forces were deployed to monitor the demonstration but
as with previous protests, they did not intervene. “The people want
to overthrow the regime”, lawyers shouted. “Republic, not a
kingdom,” others chanted.
Reuters reported tens of thousands of Algerians, tired of the
dominance of elderly veterans of the 1954-1962 war of independence
against France, have taken to the streets to urge the ailing
president not to stand in an election scheduled for April 18. He
has submitted his candidacy papers.
The unrest poses the biggest challenge yet to Bouteflika and his
inner circle, which includes members of the military, intelligence
services and big business figures. He has not spoken in public
since suffering a stroke in 2013 and remains in a hospital in
Geneva.
The national association of lawyers has demanded that the
authorities postpone the election and set up a transitional
government. An anonymous call for a general strike has gone largely
unheeded but the leadership faces another test – an online call for
a “March of 20 Million” this Friday.
On Wednesday, the influential Algerian war veterans association
expressed support for the so far peaceful protests. Two branches of
powerful Algerian labor union UGTA, representing tens of thousands
of workers, also opposed the re-election plan.
Some officials from Bouteflika’s ruling FLN party have turned up
at demonstrations. Several public figures have announced their
resignations in a country where personnel changes normally take
place behind closed doors.
Protesters have praised the military, which has stayed in
barracks throughout the unrest. But analysts and former officials
say the generals are likely to intervene if the protests lead to
instability in one of Africa’s biggest oil producers.
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