Algeria: New protests against President Bouteflika

protest of the choirs instead of birthday greetings - Algeria's President Bouteflika is 82 and wants a fifth term. However, the population has lost the patience not to be intimidated.

Stefan Ehlert, ARD Studio Rabat

"the Land will be plundered, you are thieves" call. Thousands were again on the streets of Algiers and other cities Against "le pouvoir", against "the Power" and against an additional five years of Bouteflika. The candidacy of Abdelaziz Bouteflika for a fifth term as head of state, the protests erupted.

This candidacy is illegal, says Abdelghani Badi, of the citizens movement Mouwatana in an Interview with the ARD Studio in North-West Africa: "The power failed commander-in-chief against the right to vote." The health certificate of the President is a forgery and a violation of the right to vote.

women protesting in Algiers against Bouteflika

demands for a new Republic

Bouteflika is this weekend, 82 years old, is tied for years to a wheelchair, rarely occurs in public. If he could verbally and personally to declare his candidacy, is more than questionable. The elections, if they occur, are already in six weeks.

However, parts of the Opposition are calling to stop the election process. "The claims must now be aimed at a transition phase and the formation of a constituent Assembly to establish a second Republic, a Republic, according to Bouteflika," says civil rights activist Badi.

a reminder of the civil war

want to know the government in Algiers, nothing. Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia recalled in Parliament at the beginning of the Algerian civil war, when the military stopped the election process, because a victory of the Islamists threatened. "Do you remember in 1991, it was as it is today. Protests against the Regime. And now I read that there is a call for a strike. Do you remember the hassle of 1991!"

The result was the shedding of ten years of blood with several Thousand dead. Also, the so far peaceful Protest these days is playing with fire, warned the Premier, with a view to other Arab countries: "Perhaps we recall times: in Syria, it began with roses."

With tear gas, police officers went.

the Massive police presence

The allusions to sound for many, as the government wanted to assign blame to a possible escalation of the situation already, as a precaution, the protesters. And you don't exclude the massive use of force. Already in today's Protest marches are said to have been, according to the info portal to the moon Afrique of 80,000 police officers in the use of. You put Tränegas, it came to arrests, but the demonstrations have not been stopped.

Kamel Daoud, the well-known Algerian writer, told the French radio station RTL that he expected with more repressive measures, but: "The people have no more fear. The wall of fear has collapsed. It's extraordinary, it's a shudder over the back, the enthusiasm, the joy of running. The people are no longer intimidated."

Many people in Algeria are calling for a after Bouteflika's fourth term in office, a change in Power.

gap between the Rich and the poor

The social misery helps to drive people on the road. Many were finding their Situation intolerable, says Abdelghani Badi, of the citizens ' movement Mouwatana: "The economic situation is very difficult. We have reached the stage of clandestine emigration, there are self-murders, the crime, a catastrophic social Situation. If we compare that with the money in the state Treasury, and the profits from the oil, then there is a political, economic, and social failure, which violates the interests of the Algerian people."

With the lethargy in Algeria is over, it is certainly what the new protests. But the Opposition is divided, not least in the question of who should follow on Bouteflika.

The ranks of the regime act, however, still firmly closed, and the military. Rumors are circulating however, you have to look for a Plan B, set it to time. But time is of the essence. On Sunday, the candidate list for the elections on may 18. April closed.