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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.

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
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

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.

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