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TEHRAN, Mar 12 - Thousands protested across Algeria on Tuesday, demanding immediate political changes a day after ailing President Abelaziz Bouteflika abandoned his bid for a fifth term in power but stopped short of stepping down.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Huge crowds gathered in several cities and Ennahar TV reported workers began a strike that paralyzed operations at the Mediterranean port at Bejaia.
Bouteflika, 82, bowed to weeks of mass demonstrations against his 20-year-old rule on Monday and promised a transition to a new leadership. But he postponed elections scheduled for April, meaning he will likely remain in power for some time.
Veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi and protest groups will join a conference planning Algeria's future, government and political sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister and U.N. special envoy who is in his 80s, is expected to chair the conference that will oversee the transition, draft a new constitution and set the date for elections, a government source said.
Crowds who came back onto the streets on Tuesday demanded quicker action, reflecting suspicions that the old guard, adept at manipulating opposition groups, might be seeking to weaken and divide the protest movement.
"The whole system must disappear immediately. Our battle will continue," 25-year-old student Noureddine Habi said in central Algiers as others chanted: "We want this system to go".
Source: Reuters
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