ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Protesters are piling into the streets of the Algerian capital on the 29th straight week of demonstrations, and the first since army chief Ahmed Gaid Salah said he wants a date set by Sept. 15 for presidential elections.
Algeria has been without an elected president since protesters, helped by the powerful army chief, forced Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign in early April.
Several thousand pro-democracy protesters gathered in Algiers' streets on Friday, monitored by hundreds of police, to demand the departure of the regime.
Some shouted, "Free Bouregaa. Put Gaid in prison," a reference to the arrest in late June of Lakhdar Bouregaa, a veteran of Algeria's independence war against France, who had joined protesters.
The refrain echoed around the crowd with others chanting "no elections with the gang."