Algeria: Students demonstrate and the dialogue committee demands the presidency to respect its commitments

In Algeria, protests demanded a radical change in power and accountability for corrupt people, and refused to engage with symbols of the regime of outgoing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, while the National Dialogue Committee called on the Algerian presidency to honor its commitments.

On Tuesday, about 500 students demonstrated in the center of the Algerian capital in the heat of the weather caused the fainting of some protesters, according to Agence France-Presse.

The students have gathered for the 24th Tuesday since the popular movement began in Algeria in late February in Martyrs Square near the old Kasbah district.

During the demonstration, which took place approximately 2 km away, chanting slogans such as "no dialogue with the gang", as well as a slogan calling for civil disobedience, were chanted in the previous Friday demonstrations.

Protesters in the streets of Algeria rejected the initiative recently presented by interim President Abdelkader Bensalah to organize a national dialogue in which the presidency or the army does not interfere, and have been demanding the departure of Bensalah and Prime Minister Noureddine Badawi.

In parallel, interaction across Algeria's social media platforms continues with the hashtag marking of a “military-civilian-state”, a slogan that has been raised for weeks in the movement for change.

Activists denounced through the labeling of what they called the intervention of the military establishment in the affairs of the state, stressing that only the people determine their fate. By tagging the Algerians on Twitter, they expressed their desire to see the military away from politics.

Commitment to commitments
Politically, Karim Younes, General Coordinator of the Algerian Dialogue and Mediation Commission, called on the interim president to fulfill his commitments not to interfere with the presidency or the military in the national dialogue, which is supposed to discuss issues, first and foremost fair elections.

Yunus said Tuesday in radio statements that the basic requirement of the Commission now to intervene in the mediation process is the release of detainees, and stop the violence against the demonstrators.

He added that the siege should also be lifted on citizens who want to join Algiers on Fridays and open the media field.

Younis, a former prime minister and parliament, means to restrict security measures imposed by security forces on Friday at the outlets leading to the capital in anticipation of the demonstrations.

Referring to the demands of the Dialogue, the Algerian army chief of staff, Lieutenant General Ahmed Kayed Saleh, recently rejected any dictations or preconditions for dialogue.