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Students determined to pursue Algeria’s biggest anti-government protests in years boycotted classes yesterday to denounce an offer by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to run in elections next month but not to serve a full term if re-elected.
Hundreds staged small demonstrations in several cities outside Algiers, the capital city, footage posted online showed, continuing almost two weeks of marches and rallies against the 82-year-old leader’s intent to seek a fifth term.
Bouteflika’s offer, made on Sunday, appeared aimed at taking the steam out of youthful opposition to his 20-year rule and shore up an establishment dominated by aging revolutionary stalwarts of the 1954-62 independence war against France.
Shops were open in Algiers yesterday but students did not show up for classes at Bab Ezzouar University in Algiers, the biggest in the oil-producing North African country. Several other university campuses in Algiers were deserted. A former Algerian government minister resigned as a lawmaker and member of the ruling FLN party yesterday, a rare sign of discontent within an elite coming under unprecedented pressure.
