Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the Algerian capital in the square of Prince Abdelkader yesterday, in protest against the candidacy of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika for a fifth term, while Algerian police announced the arrest of 41 people during the demonstrations that took place yesterday.
The rally was held in response to an invitation by opposition political activist Rachid Nkaz, who expressed his desire to run for the elections. The presidency is scheduled for April 18.
Algerian police announced the arrest of 41 people during the demonstrations, the day before yesterday, to disrupt the public order and assault on the public force and the destruction of property.
The police did not say in the statement the number of demonstrators who participated in the demonstrations, but a source of security forces preferred anonymity, told Agence France-Presse that the registration of about 20 thousand demonstrators, including more than 5000 in the capital and 4000 in Bejaia, east of Algeria.
According to the same source, these arrests included 38 people in the Algerian capital, which witnessed clashes between police and thousands of demonstrators trying to reach the headquarters of the Presidency of the Republic, and no injuries were recorded either in the ranks of security or demonstrators, according to the source.
With the exception of some clashes in the Algerian capital, where demonstrators threw stones at police who used tear gas, no other incidents were recorded during the demonstrations, which were initiated to organize them through social networking sites.
For its part, APS, the news agency on the official site, said that hundreds of citizens, mostly young people gathered after Friday prayers in Algiers and in other parts of the country as an expression of demands of a political nature, amid the presence of security intensive demonstrators Immediately after Friday prayers carrying national flags and banners reading "Yes to justice" and "Peace march" and "Change and reforms", demanding President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to desist from running for a new term, pointing out that marches and demonstrations are banned in Algiers by an executive decree issued in 2001.
For his part, the President of the Algerian House of Representatives, Moaz Bouchareb, that the Constitution guarantees the right of expression for Algerians for their demands and opinions and anger by peaceful means, and said in an interview with his party in the city of Oran, western Algeria, yesterday: «The right of the young man, who studied for years in order to have a job , And did not receive, that the State guarantees the right to employment, and the right of women who dream of housing protects them and her and her children to have housing ».