ALGIERS (Reuters) – Thousands of Algerians marched on Friday, a year since the start of weekly protests calling for a complete overhaul of the ruling elite, an end to corruption and the army\u2019s withdrawal from politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe will not stop,\u201d chanted a crowd in the center of the capital Algiers, despite a large police presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the past year the protesters have changed the face of Algeria\u2019s power structure, causing the fall of a veteran president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and the arrest of dozens of leading figures including a once untouchable former intelligence chief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, while the new president has released people detained in the protests, set up a commission to amend the constitution and offered talks to the opposition, much of the old ruling elite remains in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The leaderless protest movement, known as \u201chirak\u201d, is demanding more concessions, including the release of more activists and the departure of more senior figures from positions of power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur hirak is tireless. We are ready to keep marching for months more,\u201d said Yazid Chabi, a 23-year-old student on the central Didouche Mourad street in central Algiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, since December\u2019s presidential election the number of protesters has fallen according to people attending the marches each week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hirak opposed the election, regarding as illegitimate any vote that took place while the old ruling elite was in power and while the military was involved in politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abdelmadjid Tebboune, a former prime minister seen by the protesters as part of the old elite, was elected, but turnout was only 40% according to official statistics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even without the political unrest, his new government now faces a difficult economic year with energy revenues rapidly sinking, hitting state finances hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chabi, who is studying law, said he has no expectation of finding work after he graduates. \u201cAlgerians have been getting only promises. Nothing has improved in recent years because corruption is still there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two former prime ministers, several ex-ministers and prominent businessmen have been jailed after anti-graft investigations that followed protests demanding the prosecution of people involved in corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad this week said corruption and mismanagement resulted in a \u201cdelicate\u201d economic situation for Algeria, an OPEC member country that is also facing a negative impact from falling global crude oil prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(This story in paragraph 9, corrects former role of Tebboune to prime minister, not president)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ALGIERS (Reuters) – Thousands of Algerians marched on Friday, a year since the start of weekly protests calling for a complete overhaul of the ruling elite, an end to corruption and the army\u2019s withdrawal from politics. \u201cWe will not stop,\u201d chanted a crowd in the center of the capital Algiers, despite a large police presence. Over the past year the… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4039"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4040,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4039\/revisions\/4040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}