Algeria: massive demonstration in Algiers against the presidential election scheduled for December 12

A crowd of protesters marched through the streets of Algiers and other Algerian cities on Friday (October 5th) against the December presidential election set by the government and a "system" which they have been demanding for the last seven months.

"This is our country, it's up to us to decide and there will be no vote," chanted the demonstrators, hostile to the holding on December 12 of the presidential election.

This date was demanded by the military high command to elect a successor to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, pushed in April to resign under the combined pressure of the street and the army, and pull the country out of the crisis in which it is plunged since February.

A compact procession of demonstrators, impossible to quantify in the absence of any official count, filled the streets of the center of the Algerian capital, at the end of the weekly Muslim prayer, braving the strong police deployment and warnings. from the army to those who oppose the holding of the ballot.

According to local journalists and news sites, mobilization has also been important in many cities across the country. The processions, especially in Algiers, dispersed without incident in the late afternoon.

In accordance with the instructions given on 18 September by the army chief of staff, General Ahmed Gaïd Salah, to prevent protesters from other regions from marching in Algiers, gendarmerie roadblocks have impeded traffic at the entrances. of the capital, causing many traffic jams, according to protesters.

During the 33rd consecutive Friday of demonstrations, protesters' slogans specifically targeted the army and its chief of staff, the country's strongman against an acting president, Abdelkader Bensalah, largely invisible.

Earlier this week, General Gaid Salah reiterated his warnings to those who would "disrupt" the holding of the poll, presented as a pledge of "democracy" he said by "the overwhelming majority of the Algerian people."

But for the protesters, this election will only serve to maintain alive a "system", of which some of the actors are still in power despite the departure of Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

With AFP