Protesters in Algeria have renewed calls for regime change just days after demands from the army chief of staff for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to be declared unfit to rule.
Thousands of
Algerians are gathering for the sixth successive Friday of mass anti-government
protests.
Earlier this week, Lt Gen Ahmed Gaed Salah called for the position of president to made vacant.
But
opposition parties in Algeria said it would not guarantee free elections.
Demonstrations
against Mr Bouteflika began last month after the president, who has seldom been
seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, announced that he would stand
for another term.
In response
to the demonstrations, the president later agreed not to stand for a fifth term
in upcoming elections, which have been delayed.
Protesters
called this a cynical move to prolong his two-decade rule and are now calling
for the departure of not just the president, but also an entire generation of
Algerian political leaders, including those who would be in line to succeed
him.
Lt Gen Gaed
Salah – who is also deputy defence minister and seen as loyal to Mr Bouteflika
– this week called for the use of Article 102, which allows the Constitutional
Council to declare the position of president vacant if the leader is unfit to
rule.
The ruling
party, the FLN, backed the general’s call.
Under the
constitution, the head of the Senate, Abdelkhader Bansallah, would become the
acting head of state until an election could be held.
Despite the
significant intervention, the call from the army chief of staff does not appear
to be enough for protesters and opposition parties, who have continued to
protest on the streets.
Opposition
parties and protesters in Algeria were not impressed by the suggestion of Lt
Gen Gaid Salah to trigger Article 102 of the constitution.
The majority
of protesters are youth who are not involved in party politics and who say they
are not interested in the departure of Mr Bouteflika only to see the power
transferred to his former allies – bringing to power different faces of the
same regime.
It is difficult to predict what is going to happen because there is no indication that opposition parties hold any influence over the protesters, who do not have any leader or spokesperson who could hold talks with the authorities. –BBC
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