{"id":38043,"date":"2019-03-30T05:23:17","date_gmt":"2019-03-30T05:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=38043"},"modified":"2019-03-30T05:23:17","modified_gmt":"2019-03-30T05:23:17","slug":"a-million-protesters-urge-bouteflika-to-quit-as-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=38043","title":{"rendered":"A million protesters urge Bouteflika to quit as president"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nALGIERS: Algerian police deployed rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons on Friday against protesters in Algiers demanding that Abdelaziz Bouteflika step down as president.<\/p>\n

\nWitnesses claimed a million people had taken to the streets in the capital but authorities said there was no official figure.<\/p>\n

\nHuge numbers turned out for a sixth successive Friday despite a string of loyalists deserting the president and calling for him to quit and make way for a government-led change of leadership.<\/p>\n

\nProtesters rejected those moves as attempts by key figures in Bouteflika\u2019s entourage to retain their own grip on power.<\/p>\n

\nCrowds of demonstrators, many of them young but also including army veterans of Algeria\u2019s 1990s civil war, packed the square outside the main post office, which has become the center of protests.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe\u2019re fed up with those in power,\u201d the protesters chanted. \u201cWe want a new government.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\"\"Some waved the green, white and red Algerian flag or draped it over their shoulders, while others held banners with slogans and cartoons.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe\u2019re here to issue a final appeal to those in power: \u2018Take your bags and go\u2019,\u201d said Amin, 45, who traveled to the capital from the port of Bejaia nearly 200 km away.<\/p>\n

\nBouteflika, 82, who uses a wheelchair and has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, this month postponed presidential elections due in April and said he would not seek a fifth term as planned.<\/p>\n

\nThe move angered Algerians who saw it as a ploy by those around him to extend his two decades in power, and tens of thousands took to the streets demanding his immediate removal.<\/p>\n

\nProtesters on Friday chose humor to reject plans for a transition of power under Article 102 of the Algerian constitution. \u201c102 \u2014 that number is out of service,\u201d said one placard. \u201cPlease call the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nOthers raised a banner saying: \u201cWe demand the implementation of Article 2019: All of you go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nWhile many are against Bouteflika and his inner circle, they also reject the army\u2019s intervention in civilian political life.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cStreet pressure will continue until the system goes,\u201d said student Mohamed Djemai, 25.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe have only one word to say today, all the gang must go immediately, game over,\u201d said Ali, a merchant.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ALGIERS: Algerian police deployed rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons on Friday against protesters in Algiers demanding that Abdelaziz Bouteflika step down as president. Witnesses claimed a million people had taken to the streets in the capital but authorities said there was no official figure. Huge numbers turned out for a sixth successive Friday…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":38044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38043","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=38043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}