MONTREAL: Algerian-origin community protesters gathering in Montreal on Sunday to demonstrate against the rule of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika — AFP ALGIERS, Mar 11 (AP): Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika landed at a military airport south of the capital Sunday after spending two weeks in a Swiss hospital amid massive demonstrations demanding he withdraw his candidacy for a fifth term.
The 82-year-old Bouteflika suffered a stroke in 2013 and has rarely been seen in public since. The decision to run for a new term in the April 18 election angered large swathes of Algerian society.
Bouteflika arrived at Boufarik military south about 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of the capital, and was shown in video by private television station Ennahar in a fast-moving convoy heading toward the Algiers suburb of Zeralda. He could be seen inside a car slightly bent over and with a cap on his head.
Bouteflika resides in Zeralda, not in the presidential palace in the capital.
Earlier, Bouteflika had departed from a Geneva airport. Bouteflika spent two weeks at a Swiss hospital where he went for medical treatment.
The power structure has been shaken by the size of the unprecedented citizens' revolt, which has drawn millions into the streets of cities across the country.
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