Thousands of demonstrators went back to Algeria’s streets on Friday to reiterate their demands for major democratic change following Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s resignation which came after weeks of mass protests.
The rallies shortly before the first casualty was announced in the six-week movement.
A young man, 18, was wounded in protests in Algiers last week and died on Friday from injuries to the head, reported Ennahar TV said on Friday.
Ennahar said there were two accounts regarding the death. The first was that he was beaten during last Friday’s protests and the second was that he fell from a truck on his way to the protests.
Police are investigating his death, Ennahar added.
Parliament named an interim president and a July 4 election date was set in a transition the powerful military endorsed. But Bouteflika’s April 2 exit failed to placate many Algerians who want to topple the entire, largely elderly elite that have dominated the country since independence from France in 1962, Reuters reported.
People gathered in city centers around the country calling for root-and-branch reforms - including political pluralism. Witnesses also said people are demanding crackdowns on corruption and cronyism.
There was no official count but Reuters reporters at the scene estimated the number of demonstrators in the hundreds of thousands as on previous Fridays since the extraordinary mass dissent erupted on February 22.
“We will not give up our demands,” said Mourad Hamini, standing outside his coffee shop, where thousands of protesters were waving Algerian flags.
The crowd later chanted: “This is our country and we do what we want!”
Protesters also called for Abdelkader Bensalah, head of the upper house of parliament, to quit as caretaker president and for Noureddine Bedoui to stand down as interim prime minister.
“They must go. The B’s must go,” one banner read, referring to Bensalah, Bedoui and Moad Bouchareb, head of the ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) party.
Tayib Belaiz, chairman of Algeria’s Constitutional Council and a fourth senior “B” official, resigned earlier this week.
On Tuesday, army chief said Lieutenant-General Ahmed Gaed Salah said the military was considering all options to resolve the national political crisis and warned “time is running out”.
Salah did not specify what measures the army could take but added: “We have no ambition but to protect our nation.”
According to Reuters, the army has so far patiently monitored the mostly peaceful protests that at times swelled to hundreds of thousands of people. It remains the most powerful institution in Algeria, having swayed politics from the shadows for decades.
