Algiers - Thousands of Algerians demonstrated in the capital
Algiers on Friday to demand the country's military steer clear of
politics, marking the 13th straight week of anti-government protests.
Army chief of staff Gaid Salah has been in the spotlight since
February, when many Algerians took to the streets calling for
then-president Abdulaziz Bouteflika to step down after 20 years in
power.
Last month, Bouteflika resigned after weeks of nationwide protests
and under pressure from the powerful military.
Since then, demonstrations have continued in Algeria to pressure key
Bouteflika-era officials into leaving and demand an overhaul of the
political system.
On Friday, protesters rallied in the centre of Algiers, raising
placards, reading: "No to the rule of generals."
Some protesters were critical of Salah, who was appointed by
Bouteflika in 2004.
"Gaid Salah tries to get round people's demands although he is one of
the symbols of the Bouteflika regime," Salima Hadaidi, a protester,
told dpa.
"Algerians will not accept the military to rule," the 42-year-old
woman added at Central Post Square, a focal point of the weekly
protests in the capital.
Other demonstrators renewed their demand for the departure of interim
President Abdelkader Bensalah, Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui and
parliamentary speaker Mouad Bouchareb, regarded as loyalists of
Bouteflika.
Bensalah has set presidential elections for July 4, a step that
demonstrators opposed.
"There will be no elections," protesters chanted in central Algiers
on Friday.
They fear that the polls would be rigged by Bouteflika's allies, who
are still in power.
Some demonstrators called Noureddine Bedoui, a former interior
minister, the "architect" of fraud in elections previously won by
Bouteflika.
"Noureddine Bedoui is the most sworn enemey of the people and one of
those who have brought Algeria to its current crisis. He has to learn
the lesson and leave," Naziha Bireij, another protester, told dpa.
Weeks before he was forced to resign, Bouteflika named Bedoui as
prime minister.
Bouteflika's era is believed to have been dominated by cronyism and
mismanagement.
Earlier Friday, police forces had cordoned off Central Post Square
and prevented protesters from entering the iconic site, witnesses
said.
But later, as the crowds swelled, police lifted the cordon.
The city's authorities said cracks were found in the front stairs of
the postal building on the plaza, warning that they pose a threat to
public safety.
The province of Algiers added in a statement that the use of the
stairs would be banned pending repairs.
The stairs bear a symbolic significance for protesters, who have
gathered there to chant slogans against the ruling elite since the
start of the anti-Bouteflika movement.
Police set up security checkpoints on Friday at entrances to the
capital in an attempt to reduce the number of protesters coming from
nearby areas, witnesses said.
Some protesters said they had to walk on foot in order to reach the
centre of the city.