Algeria officials show growing signs of desperation as protests push on
Protests continue in Algeria, where the regime hopes its selective culling of the political elite will appease the demonstrators.
![ALGERIA-PROTESTS/ Media and police surround a convoy of police vehicles as businessmen suspected of corruption are driven to court in Algiers, Algeria April 23, 2019. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina - RC1E854AE410](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2019/04/RTX6SUQT.jpg/RTX6SUQT.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=74pwSi3k)
TUNIS, Tunisia — The momentum of the popular demonstrations that have seized Algeria shows no sign of weakening. Faced with a groundswell of public outrage over years of stagnation and the machinations of a self-serving political elite, Algeria’s government and security services have thus far proven themselves unable to placate the tide of protest against them.
As the protests push on — the students packing the streets on Tuesdays, before the full extent of public anger is given voice on Fridays — the government’s reactions have rudely exposed an elite with no answers. However, as the protesters draw closer to the center of the ingrained power structures — known locally as the pouvoir — that have ruled the country for decades, growing signs of desperation and frustration are coming to characterize the official response.