Algerians were gathering Friday for the first mass protests since the resignation of ailing president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in a key test of whether the momentum for reform can be maintained.
Activists took to social media calling for “joyful demonstrations” to “peacefully bring down a dictatorial regime”.
Opponents of the old regime have called for a massive turnout, targeting a triumvirate they dub the “3B” — Abdelakder Bensalah, Tayeb Belaiz and Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui.
The veteran Bouteflika loyalists have been entrusted with overseeing the political transition after the veteran leader finally stepped down at the age of 82.
Bouteflika resigned late on Tuesday after weeks of demonstrations triggered by his bid for a fifth term in office. He had lost the backing of key supporters including armed forces chief Ahmed Gaid Salah.
Bensalah, speaker of the upper house of parliament for 16 years, is to take the reins as interim president for three months until elections are organized.
Belaiz, a minister for 16 years, was named by Bouteflika as head of the Constitutional Council which will regulate the elections.
Before his appointment as prime minister, Bedoui had served as interior minister — or, as the French-language El Watan newspaper put it on Thursday, “chief engineer of electoral fraud”.
Opponents say all three are tarnished by their long years of service under Bouteflika and should follow his lead and resign.
Hours before the rally was set to begin, several hundred demonstrators had already gathered outside the main post office in central Algiers, which has been the epicenter of the protest movement.
Some shouted “we will not forgive!” in reference to an open letter Bouteflika issued after his resignation, apologizing to the Algerian people for “mistakes made”.
Said Wafi, a bank worker from the nearby city of Boumerdes, had arrived at 5:00 am in hope of being “the first demonstrator against the system”.
“Bouteflika leaving means nothing if his men continue to run the country,” the 42-year-old said.
Samir Ouzine, 19, a student, agreed.
“Bouteflika was very sick. He wasn’t really governing, and nothing will change if he alone leaves and his men stay.”
Source: AFP
