President Abdelaziz Bouteflika returns to Algeria

A plane has taken Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika back to Algiers. Earlier security forces had been deployed between Algiers airport and the presidential residence in Zeralda, just outside the capital Algiers.

The 82-year-old Bouteflika spent two weeks in a hospital in Geneva. Since having a stroke in 2013 he has rarely been seen in public.

The president’s plane flew to Geneva on Sunday before returning to Boufarik military airport.

Bouteflika’s announcement that he would stand for re-election next month sparked huge protests across Algeria.

The demonstrations, which have seen tens of thousands of people take part, are thought to represent the biggest threat so far to Mr Bouteflika’s 20-year rule.

Mr Bouteflika’s office previously insisted that he was just going to Geneva for routine health check-ups, but it led to speculation that his condition was far more serious.

He has said that the mass demonstrations, which broke out last month after he confirmed he would seek a fifth term, could plunge the country into “chaos”.

Via BBC