On Friday, February 7, Algerians demonstrated for the 51st week in the capital Algiers. Demonstrators chanted “Either us or this system”.
While the crowd appeared less than the one which gathered the week before in the center of the capital, where large numbers of police were deployed, according to press reports.
The demonstrators repeated the weekly chanting of “Civilian State, Not Military,” denouncing the army's power take over since the country's independence in 1962.
The demonstrators again shed light on the economic problems facing the country especially with existent weak oil markets, which secure a large proportion of the country's resources.
Similar to every Friday, the protesters demanded the release of the movement’s activists, who had been arrested for several months.
The movement began on February 22 of last year, rejecting the candidacy of the former President of the Republic, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, for a fifth presidential term.
Despite Bouteflika's resignation on April 2, 2019, after 20 years as head of state, the movement continues to demand a break with the political system that has existed since independence.
The Algerian movement failed in preventing the holding of the presidential elections on December 12 of last year, nor did it prevent Abdelmajid Taboun from winning the position.
The movement, which lacks leadership, appears divided over an upcoming plan to follow as the movement approaches the second year of this popular mobilization which is still insistent over street protest.
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