the Demonstrations are the largest in the country since the so-called arab spring of 2011. The protests have mainly been peaceful, but during the Friday night broke some of the confrontations between protesters and police in the vicinity of the presidential palace in the capital, Algiers, and stone throwing was met with tear gas from riot police.
According to the national news agency APS, citing the Algerian ministry of health was damaged total of 183 persons.
Demonstrations were also held a week ago, but Friday’s attendance was the largest to date, and marches were conducted in other major cities such as Oran and Constantine.
gather to protest against the country’s 82-year-old president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who ruled the country for 20 years, and is reported to want to set-up in the election for a fifth term, despite the fact that it would lack support in the constitution.
Bouteflika has not formally confirmed that he is standing as a candidate, but the indications have come from his representatives. He has also appointed a kampanjchef. The president has until Sunday to officially apply for candidacy to the elections, to be held on 18 april.
Since a stroke in 2013, he has only made a few public appearances and has not addressed the protests against him. Authorities have earlier in the week indicated that the president would travel to Switzerland to undergo a medical check, and swiss media reported that he was at Geneva’s university hospital on Friday, writes Reuters.
the political actions and tolerated a regime with little room for dissent, in exchange for peace and stability, writes Reuters. A declining world market prices on oil, however, has hit the economy hard, and in recent years has been the country’s many young residents frustrerats of widespread corruption and high unemployment.