{"id":35661,"date":"2019-03-16T05:23:10","date_gmt":"2019-03-16T05:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=35661"},"modified":"2019-03-16T05:23:10","modified_gmt":"2019-03-16T05:23:10","slug":"us-should-not-curb-aid-to-saudi-led-coalition-in-yemen-says-pompeo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=35661","title":{"rendered":"US should not curb aid to Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, says Pompeo"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nALGIERS: A huge crowd of demonstrators marched through the Algerian capital for a fourth consecutive Friday to step up demands for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika\u2019s ouster, rejecting his offer not to seek re-election.<\/p>\n

\nWith police standing back without intervening, protesters converged on Algiers\u2019 landmark Grand Poste Square for the rally calling on the 82-year-old to step down after two decades in power.<\/p>\n

\nMen, women and children gathered in a festive atmosphere, in numbers that appeared to match the previous week\u2019s demonstration when tens of thousands took to the streets across the country, an AFP correspondent said.<\/p>\n

\nFriday\u2019s rally is the first major test of whether Bouteflika has calmed public anger with his surprise announcement on Monday that he would not seek a fifth term but was canceling an April presidential poll.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cYou pretend to understand us, we will pretend to listen to you,\u201d read a banner held aloft by the mostly young demonstrators.<\/p>\n

\nBouteflika had initially sparked joy among protesters when he said he would not stand again, but his move to cancel the vote prompted accusations of \u201ctricks\u201d and sparked a new round of demonstrations.<\/p>\n

\nHe has also named a new prime minister, replacing unpopular Premier Ahmed Ouyahia with former Interior Minister Noureddine Bedoui, who on Thursday defended the postponement of the poll.<\/p>\n

\nBouteflika, who uses a wheelchair and has rarely appeared in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, has promised a \u201cnational conference\u201d to carry out reforms.<\/p>\n

\nThe president said that new elections would be held \u201cbefore the end of 2019,\u201d suggesting he may stay in office for another year.<\/p>\n

\nMany demonstrators, with their banners, criticized the stand of France on the political crisis in Algeria, its former colony, accusing Paris of siding with Bouteflika.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cFrance, 132 years is enough, stop the interference,\u201d read one banner, referring to the era of French rule before independence. \u201cMacron, you are too small for today\u2019s Algeria.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nFrench President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday welcomed Bouteflika\u2019s announcement but urged Algerian authorities to organize a \u201creasonable\u201d transition from his rule.<\/p>\n

\nAlgeria has largely avoided the turmoil unleashed by the Arab Spring uprisings that brought down rulers in Tunisia and Libya.<\/p>\n

\nBut discontent, particularly among the young, turned to anger after the veteran leader announced on Feb. 10 that he would seek another term.<\/p>\n

\nDemonstrations have brought tens of thousands onto the streets for each of the last three Fridays.<\/p>\n

\nThe protest movement has been led by students, in a country where half the population is under the age of 30 and youth unemployment has spurred anger against a government seen as out of touch.<\/p>\n

\nSeveral demonstrators on Friday said they had traveled from the Kabylie area, 100 km east of Algiers, and spent the previous night with friends in the capital to avoid roadblocks or bus stoppages.<\/p>\n

\nAs at previous rallies after the weekly prayers, Algeria\u2019s red-white-green flag fluttered from windows and balconies of buildings leading to the city center.<\/p>\n

\nAlgeria\u2019s new Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui on Thursday sought to calm tensions ahead of the new demonstrations that could prove decisive for the protest movement.<\/p>\n

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\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nBedoui warned at a news conference that the situation was \u201csensitive\u201d in the North African country.<\/p>\n

\nPeople \u201cmust show calm and act peacefully,\u201d he said, calling for \u201cdialogue\u201d to resolve the situation.<\/p>\n

\nIncoming Deputy Prime Minister Ramtane Lamamra has said that Bouteflika\u2019s proposed national conference on political reforms should take place \u201cas soon as possible..\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe absolute priority is to reunite the Algerians and allow them to go together toward a better future,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not about staying in power for a few weeks or a few months more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nBut El-Watan newspaper on Friday fired back with a \u201cGet Out\u201d message to the new leadership, charging Bedoui had \u201cducked the real questions\u201d facing the country.<\/p>\n

\nThe assessment was also harsh on social media, with one commentator in a tweet sarcastically thanking Bedoui and Lamamra for their \u201cefforts to keep Algerians mobilized\u201d for Friday\u2019s protests.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cYesterday was the news conference of your prime minister and deputy premier, today is the news conference of the people,\u201d another critic of the regime wrote on social media.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ALGIERS: A huge crowd of demonstrators marched through the Algerian capital for a fourth consecutive Friday to step up demands for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika\u2019s ouster, rejecting his offer not to seek re-election. With police standing back without intervening, protesters converged on Algiers\u2019 landmark Grand Poste Square for the rally calling on the 82-year-old to step…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35661\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}