{"id":397966,"date":"2019-03-03T19:52:21","date_gmt":"2019-03-03T18:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/mass-protests-erupt-in-algeria-against-bouteflikas-bid-for-fifth-term\/"},"modified":"2019-03-03T19:52:21","modified_gmt":"2019-03-03T18:52:21","slug":"mass-protests-erupt-in-algeria-against-bouteflikas-bid-for-fifth-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/mass-protests-erupt-in-algeria-against-bouteflikas-bid-for-fifth-term\/","title":{"rendered":"Mass protests erupt in Algeria against Bouteflika\u2019s bid for fifth term"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"content\">\n<h3 class=\"nomargin\">\u00a0<\/h3>\n<h2>Mass protests erupt in Algeria against Bouteflika\u2019s bid for fifth term<\/h2>\n<h5>\n<p>    By<br \/>\n    Alex Lantier<br \/>\n    <br \/>2 March 2019<\/p>\n<\/h5>\n<p>Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in cities across Algeria against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika\u2019s bid for a fifth term in April 18 elections. It comes following protests by students and journalists against Bouteflika after the ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) announced his candidacy on February 9, and a wave of strikes across the Maghreb.<\/p>\n<div class=\"imageFull\" style=\"width:480px; oveflow:hidden;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.wsws.org\/asset\/8f8a3126-2622-41db-92c3-ecad2189c95D\/image.jpg?rendition=image480\" srcset=\"\/asset\/8f8a3126-2622-41db-92c3-ecad2189c95D\/image.jpg?rendition=image960 2x\" width=\"480\" style=\"width:480px;\" \/><span>Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated throughout Algeria Friday<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Since suffering a major stroke in 2013, Bouteflika has been incapacitated. He is receiving treatment at the University Hospital of Geneva (HUG) in Switzerland, with his brother Sa\u00efd the unofficial head of state. The FLN\u2019s decision to run Bouteflika testifies to the bankrupt and sclerotic character of the Algerian capitalist regime, which after winning independence from French imperialism in a bloody 1954-1962 war emerged in recent decades as a mainstay of imperialist war strategy.<\/p>\n<p>Mass protests took place in Algiers, Oran, Constantine, Annaba, Tizi Ouzou, B\u00e9ja\u00efa, S\u00e9tif, Sidi Bel Abb\u00e8s and other cities. Though the regime banned TV coverage of the marches and restricted Internet access, closing 3G and 4G networks, what predominated in the marches was anger against unemployment, low wages and austerity and calls for bringing down the regime.<\/p>\n<p>The Algerian protests are part of an ongoing, international upsurge of class struggle: bread riots in Sudan, strikes in Tunisia, the \u201cyellow vest\u201d protests in France, and teachers\u2019 strikes erupting independently of the trade unions across the United States. Having suppressed political opposition for decades, the Algerian regime now faces a challenge from below. Protesters are harking&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wsws.org\/en\/articles\/2019\/03\/02\/alge-m02.html\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 Mass protests erupt in Algeria against Bouteflika\u2019s bid for fifth term By Alex Lantier 2 March 2019 Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in cities across Algeria against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika\u2019s bid for a fifth term in April 18 elections. It comes following protests by students and journalists against Bouteflika after the ruling [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2526,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-397966","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2526"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397966\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}