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| - Algeria, which on Friday freed dozens of jailed activists and whose president has called early elections, has seen renewed protests as it marks the second anniversary of a popular uprising. The "Hirak" protests, meaning "movement" in Arabic, swept former strongman Abdelaziz Bouteflika from power in 2019, but continued after his fall. Here is a timeline since the protests began: From February 22, 2019, massive protests are held every Friday, sparked by the announcement of the ailing 82-year-old Bouteflika that he would stand for a fifth presidential term in office. On April 2, Bouteflika resigns following two decades in power, after the powerful army chief Ahmed Gaid Salah tells him to quit. While crowds cheer his departure, they again fill the streets on April 5 to keep pushing for the total dismantling of the system in place since independence from France in 1962. On April 9, upper house speaker Abdelkader Bensalah is named interim president, but opposition parties refuse to confirm his nomination. Gaid Salah emerges as the key powerbroker. On May 20, he rejects the key demands of protesters that an election planned for July 4 be postponed and that regime stalwarts depart. But the constitutional council on June 2 cancels the election due to a lack of candidates. Protests continue in the capital Algiers. On September 18, the military toughens its line, ordering police to block demonstrators from outside Algiers entering to protest. On September 25, a military court sentences Bouteflika's brother Said and two former intelligence chiefs to 15 years in prison for "conspiring" against the state. In December, former prime ministers Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelmalek Sellal, who were both close to Bouteflika, are sentenced to 15 years and 12 years in jail respectively in corruption trials. On December 12, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, a one-time prime minister under Bouteflika, wins a presidential election, on an official turnout of less than 40 percent. The next day, Tebboune calls for dialogue with protesters, who nevertheless remain on the streets. On December 23, Gaid Salah dies from a heart attack, aged 79. On January 31, 2020, Algerians flood the streets of the capital to celebrate the 50th consecutive Friday demonstration. However, on March 20, the streets of Algiers are empty on a Friday for the first time since the start of the protest movement due to coronavirus rules. Protests stall amid pandemic restrictions. Algerians approve a revised version of the country's constitution after record low turnout in a referendum held on November 1. The plebiscite takes place in the absence of Tebboune, who is hospitalised in Germany after contracting Covid-19. He returns to Algeria, but goes back to Germany for surgery following post-Covid-19 complications, returning to Algiers on February 12, 2021. Thousands of Algerians rally on February 16 in the northern town of Kherrata, seen as the cradle of the protests. Two days later, Tebboune pardons dozens of jailed activists of the protest movement and announces early elections. He also calls for the dissolution of parliament and says he will carry out a government reshuffle. Calls to demonstrate on February 22, seen as the two-year anniversary of the protests, circulate on social networks. On February 19, authorities release around 30 pro-democracy activists from jail. They include journalist Khaled Drareni, a correspondent for French-language TV5 Monde and press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), who was sentenced to two years in jail in September and has become a symbol of press freedom in Algeria. acm/eab-jmy/sw
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