Thousands protest in streets against Bouteflika’s plan to run for 5th term

TENS of thousands of Algerian students protested in the capital and other cities on Tuesday against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s plan to extend his 20-year rule by seeking a fifth term.

It was the fifth day of demonstrations but the first covered by state media after 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.

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.

“Nobody can decide to erase what we have in the constitution,” Abdelmalek Sellal told a crowd of Bouteflika supporters in televised remarks. “It is his right to be a candidate.”

The student protesters, who chanted “peaceful, peaceful” and “no to a fifth term”, 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,” said a student, Djahid.

Hundreds marched in central Algiers while other students held rallies inside faculties. Rallies drawing thousands were also held in towns.

The state news agency APS said the protesters were demanding “change and reform”. State television showed for the first time in its main evening news footage of demonstrations.

Bouteflika has not addressed the protests. The authorities said he would travel to Geneva for unspecified medical checks, but there was no official confirmation he had left.

Many Algerians for years avoided politics in public, fearing trouble from security services, or having stopped caring as the country has been run by the same veterans since the 1954-1962 independence war with France.

Bouteflika has ruled since 1999 and stamped out a decade-long Islamist insurgency early in his rule. His opponents say there is no evidence he is in fit enough health to lead the country. A divided opposition faces high hurdles in mounting an electoral challenge. Lower oil prices have damaged the economy, rekindling discontent.