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TEHRAN, Mar 04 - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's offer of a new constitution and a truncated next term does not appear to have satisfied protesters, who faced off with riot police overnight.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Crowds of mainly young protesters demonstrated into the early hours of Monday after Bouteflika's campaign manager formalized the president's candidacy for a fifth term in an April 18 election.
As well as voicing opposition to Bouteflika's attempt to hold onto power, the protesters are accusing the country's secretive leadership of failing to share Algeria's gas wealth, heavy-handed security policies and widespread corruption.
Police fired tear gas on protesters crying "Bouteflika, Get Out!" at Maurice Audin Square in western Algiers, according to images on Algerian private television networks.
Demonstrators set a social security office on fire in the working class neighborhood of Belouizdad.
The number of people injured or arrested has not been released.
Demonstrations were also held in other cities against another term for Bouteflika, who has barely been seen in public since a 2013 stroke and is facing protests over his leadership of Africa's largest country.
Responding to Algeria's biggest protest movement in years, Bouteflika said Sunday in a statement that if he's re-elected, he would hold a referendum on a new constitution and call an early election in which he wouldn't run.
He also promised to fight endemic corruption, better distribute Algeria's wealth — which is heavily dependent on natural gas — and create better opportunities for Algerians who risk their lives to try to migrate across the Mediterranean to Europe.
"I am resolute: If God wants and the Algerian people give me its trust, I will take the challenge of changing the regime," Bouteflika wrote in a statement read on national television by campaign chief Abdelghani Zaalane.
But protesters don't want Bouteflika to run at all in the April 18 vote, and described the offer as a ploy to remain in power. Opposition parties are holding meetings Monday to decide the next steps after Bouteflika's announcement.
Source: AP
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