ALGIERS, 6 January 2004 — Lawmakers from Algeria’s ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) yesterday demanded the resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, calling him a threat to stability and an insult to people’s dignity in the North African country.
The FLN lawmakers issued a statement calling on the president to stand down “because he represents a threat to the stability of our country, a danger to public order and security, and an insult to the dignity of the Algerian people and the sovereignty of elected assemblies.”
Their call for the president to go came a day after police broke up an anti-Bouteflika demonstration outside parliament amid a widening rift within the FLN as presidential elections loom in April.
Scores of protesters demonstrated Sunday against a court ruling last week which froze the FLN’s activities and funding and nullified the results of a party congress that re-elected former head of government Ali Benflis as the party’s secretary general.
The party congress had also broadened Benflis’ powers while dropping its backing of Bouteflika, whose election in 1999 with the backing of the FLN was marred by the withdrawal of six other candidates alleging massive fraud.
Bouteflika, who has not yet said whether he will seek re-election, sacked Benflis as head of government eight months ago, sparking the rift in the FLN that has since deepened, pitting the president’s backers against those of his former head of government and right-hand man. Sunday’s protest was blocked by riot police some 300 meters from the National Assembly.
The protesters also called for a “Free and Democratic Algeria” and chanted anti-Bouteflika slogans, calling the president a “dictator” and a “traitor” as the riot police and a few passers-by looked on.
FLN lawmaker Abdelaziz Chalabi, who holds the seat for Constantine in northeastern Algeria and took part in the protest, had a mild heart attack when he was jostled by police who moved in to disperse the demonstrators.
A dozen protesters were also slightly injured, witnesses said. Supporters said earlier yesterday that while Chalabi’s condition had improved, he was still under observation at Mustapha hospital in Algiers. FLN leaders told the press that they might hold other demonstrations to protest the decision to freeze the party’s activities, but only as a last resort.
Meanwhile, newspapers and diplomats in Algeria warned that Sunday’s unrest could be a harbinger of incidents to come in the run-up to the elections. “Serious clashes could take place between the two sides if the presidential clan decides to organize ‘spontaneous demonstrations’ to show their backing for the president, as it is in the habit of doing,” a Western diplomat said.
