Algeria protests

As many as 800,000 people gathered in Algiers, Algeria, on March 1 to protest the announcement that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has been in power since 1999, was running for a fifth term.

On March 11, Bouteflika announced he would not seek a fifth term, but, as of press time, no successor had been named. Since suffering a stroke in 2013, Bouteflika had not been seen or heard in public until he announced he was stepping down. After that announcement, protests continued, with calls for him to immediately resign. The protests have been largely peaceful, with no reports of violence from either protesters or security forces.