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Tuesday, 2 April 2019
Algeria: Hundreds of thousands march for President Bouteflika's removal
Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Algeria to demand the resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Estimates say crowds in the capital, Algiers, reached a million. It is the sixth successive Friday of mass anti-government protests in the country.
Earlier this week an army general, Lt Gen Ahmed Gaed Salah, called for the position of president to made vacant. But opposition parties in Algeria said it would not guarantee free elections. Algerian police fired tear gas at crowds as they attempted to reach the presidency, the BBC's Mohamed Arezki Himeur, in Algiers, said.
The renewed calls for regime change come just days after Lt Gen Gaed Salah demanded that Mr Bouteflika be declared unfit to rule.
What do the protesters want?
Demonstrations against Mr Bouteflika began last month after the president, who has seldom been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, announced that he would stand for another term.
In response, the president agreed to not stand for a fifth term in upcoming elections, which have been delayed.
However the move did not go down well with protesters, who said his decision not to run was a cynical move to prolong his 20-year rule.
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