Algeria’s revolution of smiles, one year on
Algerians took to the streets in February 2019 to oppose a fifth term for president Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Two months later he had resigned. A year on, the peaceful weekly protests continue
In 2013, then Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika suffered a debilitating stroke that left him wheelchair-bound and, later, unable to speak. Having already suffered from stomach cancer for years — and often in Paris for treatment — he largely vanished from the public eye. Nonetheless, and despite being represented only in poster form, he ran for a fourth presidential term in 2014, winning 80% of the vote. When it was announced in February last year that he would run for a fifth term, the population took to the streets in protest.
By March 11 the presidency had backtracked, announcing Bouteflika would no longer stand for office. On April 2 he resigned under pressure from the army chief of staff, relinquishing power after 20 years in office...
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