Crowds in Algiers demand president step down

Описание: (15 Mar 2019) Tens of thousands of people gathered on Friday in Algeria's capital and other cities amid heavy security for what could be decisive protests against longtime leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Wearing Algerian flags on their backs and chanting "Bouteflika, Get Out," diverse groups thronged leafy boulevards in Algiers and converged on three public plazas that have become centrepoints of an unprecedented, month-long public uprising against the country's shadowy leadership.
Algerians have barely seen Bouteflika in public since he suffered a 2013 stroke, and many are angry at a power structure seen as shady and corrupt.
Millions struggle to make ends meet despite the country's gas wealth.
As Friday's protests began, riot police fans lined side streets of Algiers and surveillance helicopters circled overhead, but the ambience on the ground was relaxed.
The protesters want to send a mass message that they are rejecting Bouteflika's attempt this week to defuse Algeria's political crisis.
Bouteflika ceded to protesters' demands that he abandon plans for a fifth term, and promised reforms addressing concerns of frustrated, struggling youth.
But he also cancelled the April 18 presidential election, allowing him to cling to power indefinitely.
Police surrounding the Algiers' central post office appeared largely unarmed, and their plastic riot shields rested on the ground or in vans nearby.
That could be a message from Algerian authorities, known for their heavy-handed security posture, that they want to avoid unrest or provoking public anger.
Students, teachers, judges and unions were among those planning to join Friday's protests demanding that Bouteflika step down after 20 years in power.
So far the protest movement has been calm, with just a few incidents of violence on the sidelines.
But the specter of past violence haunts many Algerians, notably a civil war in the 1990s between Islamic insurgents and security forces that left some 200,000 dead.
Bouteflika is credited with helping reconcile the nation after that, but is accused of growing increasingly out of touch with his nation as his presidency dragged on.

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