Algerian police fire teargas as tens of thousands protest against president

[EmperorScorpious]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/01/algeria-braces-biggest-protests-president-abdelaziz-bouteflika

Police have fired teargas to disperse tens of thousands of demonstrators marching through central Algiers against Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s bid for a fifth term in office, the biggest protest in the Algerian capital since the Arab spring.

“The people want the fall of the regime,” some of those looking to converge at the Place de la Grande Poste in the city centre shouted, in an echo of the Arab spring protests that swept parts of north Africa eight years ago, as police helicopters circled overhead.

The wave of mass protests in more than 30 cities around the country began last Friday after the president’s ruling National Liberation Front confirmed him as its candidate in the 18 April election. It appears to have broken a longstanding taboo against national public dissent in Algeria.