Bouteflika left, Algerians in the street for a 7th consecutive Friday

For thousands of Algerians, this is the first big rally since the departure of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Algerians began demonstrating on Friday, the first major rally since the departure of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, to deny any involvement of his former followers in the political transition.

Four hours before the scheduled start of the procession, at 14h, local time (15h, French hours), several hundred people are already gathered in the center of Algiers, on the forecourt of the Grand Post. This square, the epicenter of the big weekly events, already echoes slogans and cries, such as "We will not forgive!", A reference to the farewell letter of the head of state, in which he apologizes to his fellow citizens.

"Vendredire". With the departure of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the neologism "vendredire", invented by the protesters and meaning "to manifest happily", has acquired on social networks, an additional meaning: "to bring down a dictatorial regime peacefully". In a video posted on the internet, the lawyer Mustapha Bouchachi, one of the voices of the protest, called the Algerians to make Friday "a great day". "The resignation of the president does not mean that we have been successful," he warns.

# Yetna7aw_Ga3 # Algiers 5/4/19 11:25 am Friday Act VII pic.twitter.com/09OtPrmvRa

The protesters also call for the departure of three key men of power. The protesters call at the beginning of the "3B", Abdelkader Bensalah, Tayeb Belaiz and Noureddine Bedoui, three key men of the apparatus set up by Abdelaziz Bouteflika and to whom the Constitution entrusts the reins of the process of interim. President for over 16 years of the Council of the Nation (upper house) by the grace of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Abdelkader Bensalah is responsible for replacing him for three months at the head of the state, time to organize a presidential election, according to the Constitution. Tayeb Belaiz, who was a 16-year-old minister almost without interruption, presided - for the second time in his career - with the Constitutional Council, which oversaw the regularity of the ballot. Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui was until his appointment on March 11 the zealous Interior Minister, "chief engineer of electoral fraud and enemy of freedoms", as the French daily El Watan called it Thursday.

>> READ ALSO - In a letter of "goodbye", Bouteflika "apologizes" to Algerians

"The most delicate phase". "To stick to the Constitution", and to entrust the interim and the organization of the elections to men incarnating the fallen system, "will probably raise quite a lot of protests, the protesters doubting that the elections are equitable (... and free, "says Isabelle Werenfels, associate researcher at the German Institute for International Affairs and Security. Instead, protesters call for the establishment of transitional institutions that can reform the country and, in particular, organize a legal framework guaranteeing free elections.

"After Bouteflika is unclear, the street and the opposition parties are calling for a new constitution, a new electoral law," stresses Hamza Meddeb, researcher on the Middle East at the European University Institute of Florence. Algeria enters "the most delicate phase, because the street and the institutions are likely to be divided", estimates it. A great winner of his showdown with Bouteflika's entourage, whom he ultimately forced to leave power, General Ahmed Gaïd Salah, Chief of Staff of the Army, appears as the strongman of the country currently.

The street, main actor. But, says Hasni Abidi, director of the Center for Studies and Research on the Arab and Mediterranean world in Geneva, "the Algerian street has become the new player in Algerian political life" and "we do not know much about the intentions of the army concerning the management of post-Bouteflika ". Especially since General Gaïd Salah is also widely perceived by the protesters as a man of the "system" Bouteflika that he has faithfully served since his appointment by the president at the head of the army in 2004, before letting go the last days.

Hope. The Algerians, meanwhile, keep hope: "We want to recover our freedom, our sovereignty. (...) I hope to live long enough to attend democracy in my country," Said Friday Said Zeroual, 75, eyes and sobs in his voice. This hope has, for the time being, made Zoubir Challal give up attempting to cross the Mediterranean in search of a better future, like many Algerians. The sign that this unemployed 28-year-old wears says: "For the first time, I do not want to leave you my country".