Riots in Algeria: Thousands of people protested against the government and clashed with police

Tens of thousands of Algerians demonstrated this Friday afternoon at various locations in the capital, Algiers, and in other cities across the country. against the prospect of a fifth term of the President Abdelaziz Buteflika.

In Algiers, there was a violent crackdown on protesters near the government palacewhere police used tear gas and water jets to disperse the crowd.

According to Algerian public television, which aired Friday for the first time images of the protests the riots left 56 policemen and seven wounded protesters. At least 45 people were arrested.

Throughout the city center of the Algerian capital, it was possible see shops with broken windows, in addition to a bank branch and a car burned, found a journalist from AFP.

The staff of AFP he also saw at least a dozen people injured by the beatings of batons or the explosion of cluster bombs, as well as people intoxicated by tear gas.

In announcing on February 10 his intention to contest a fifth presidential term, Buteflika (in power since 1999) has unleashed a wave of unprecedented street protests over the last 20 years in Algeria.

Friday's demonstrations were larger than those recorded last week, whileThe government runs against the clock because it has until Sunday midnight (23h00, GMT) formalize or not the candidacy of Buteflika before the Constitutional Council.

On Friday, military sources pointed out that there were "several tens of thousands of people" in the streets of the Algerian capital, always accompanied by a military helicopter.

"Power killer!"The crowd, which waved Algerian flags in the main concentration, the square in front of the headquarters of the Post Office, a central point highly symbolic for the country, chanted insistently.

The crowd was composed of men and women of all ages, in a column of people who have nurtured endlessly with neighborhood groups like Casbah, Bab el Oued or Plaza de Mayo.

These columns ended up overflowing with several checkpoints mounted by the police.

"The people want the fall of the regime!", chanted one of the columns of demonstrators, while in another sector of the demonstration, the slogan was "No to the 5th mandate!".

As, balconies and windows, it looked like neighbors waved by Algerian flags as the crowd pbaded.

When the demonstration approached the government palace Police used a real rain of tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Security sector sources said they were also registered protests in Blida, the third largest city in the country, Tizi-Uzu, Bejaia, Annaba, Buira, Setif, Batna, Tiaret and Sidi Bel Abbes.

In Oran, an activist badured AFP that Friday's protest was significantly larger than the previous days.

"We are here to control the manifestations and avoid any disturbance"A police source said in the morning.

The response of the police is extremely important at this stage.

From the beginning of the eventsPolice have remained on the sidelines, despite the ban on street protests in the country since 2001.

Moreover, the sectors of the oficialismo already knew this week that They do not intend to give up their positions because of the protests.

Some observers fear that the Buteflika's supporters use violence to avoid an election campaign and the difficulty of getting re-elected of a physically absent candidate.

Buteflika suffered a stroke and appears in public very rarely, and has not spoken to the country since 2013.

Despite this difficulty, Buteflika's campaign director, Abdelmalek Sellal, stressed that "no one has the right to prevent an Algerian citizen to be a candidate is a constitutional right ".

Buteflika has been hospitalized in Geneva since last Sunday, officially dedicated to "periodic medical examinations"and his return to Algeria has no precise date.

As other members of the ruling party, Prime Minister Ahmed Uyahia evoked the specter of the "black decade" of civil war (1992-2002) in Algeria, as well as chaos in Syria.

This Friday, protesters in the streets responded to Prime Minister chanting: "Uyahia, Algeria is not Syria!"

The manifestations, of variable magnitude, They occurred throughout the week, on call from subscribers, students and journalists.

Thursday, a dozen journalists were detained for several hours by the police after an act "against censorship" in the coverage of the demonstrations.