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When the head of Algeria's army declared the president was too ill to rule he revealed where the real power lies in Algeria, writes James McDougall, an expert on the history of Algeria. For Algeria's 82-year old former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, it is "game over", as slogans on the country's streets have been saying since mid-February. But his resignation, announced on Tuesday, does not mean the end of the protests that have seen hundreds of thousands of people, of all ages, peacefully demonstrating for seven weeks. Early in the movement demonstrators' slogans demanded "No fifth mandate". They were rejecting Mr Bouteflika's candidacy for re-election to a fifth term in the presidency he had occupied since 1999. You may also be interested in: Goodbye to the only leader they ever knew The president who didn't speak What's Algeria like? But from the start, the protests were about more than Mr Bouteflika. The whole "system", or "pouvoir", had to go, placards and online posts demanded. So when the army's chief of staff, Lt Gen Ahmed Gaid Salah, announced on 26 March that article 102 of the constitution - allowing the president's removal on grounds of ill health - should be applied, protesters had won something, but their response was cautious. The following Friday, marchers in the country's second city, Oran, carried signs saying: "102 is half the answer, the whole gang has to go." The hashtags now were: "Leave means Leave" and "Throw them all out". Protesters in the capital, Algiers, chanted: "Bouteflika get out, and take Gaid Salah with you." A second statement from Gen Gaid Salah demanded the "immediate" application of article 102. Mr Bouteflika's resignation followed a few hours later. At 79-years old, Gen Gaid Salah, like Mr Bouteflika, is one of the last remaining veterans of Algeria's revolutionary generation who fought in the war of independence against France from 1954 to 1962. Ever since independence, the army has been the real centre of power in Algeria, arbitrating factional conflicts among politicians and business interests, making and unmaking presidents. Mr Bouteflika himself was brought to the presidency in 1999 by a group of generals who had prosecuted a brutal war against militant Islamist insurgents since 1992. After that conflict wound down, the army preserved its power, acting behind the scenes to distribute influence through Algeria's multiparty politics and the "system" of factional interests that it represents. But the army is not the only player in that system, and in the early 2000s Mr Bouteflika removed the generals who had sponsored him. A presidential "clan", including wealthy private businessmen, gravitated around Mr Bouteflika and his brother Said. After Mr Bouteflika suffered an incapacitating stroke in 2013, Said was increasingly identified as being in control of access and influence at the centre of power. Cut loose Gen Gaid Salah, head of the army since 2004, was a central figure in this system. Until last week, he was strongly identified with the president and his circle. His decision to cut the president loose and declare the army "aligned" with the aspirations of the po[CENSORED]r movement signalled a recognition that radical measures were needed to save the system. On the day Mr Bouteflika resigned, a high-profile businessman associated with Said's clique was arrested. Others had their passports confiscated and were forbidden to leave the country. While some protesters welcomed the army's move, there were also demands that "the army's place is in the barracks" and widespread rejection of an attempt to keep control over the transition by those still in power. By ousting Mr Bouteflika and casting his other close associates adrift, Gen Gaid Salah no doubt intends to recapture the initiative from the street. Slogans now include: "The army and the people are brothers, brothers" and "the army and the people are one hand". These chants might be a vote of confidence in the general's actions. But they can also be heard as a call for the army to really align itself with the people, rather than manoeuvring against them. Other placards read "Neither Gaid nor Said" and "system get out". While denouncing cliques of private interests, Gen Gaid Salah claims that Algeria's army is "modern and professional". Some, perhaps including many officers ,no doubt detest the image of an Algeria ruled by an incapacitated figurehead for the crony capitalists around his brothers. They do not see themselves as the "thieves" who have, as protesters chant, "pillaged the country". Some observers and activists believe that the army as an institution now wants to stay out of politics and might even support the "clean-up" of corruption that protesters demand. Gen Gaid Salah's demand for the immediate application of article 102 also mentioned articles seven and eight of the constitution. These formally state that sovereignty in Algeria rests with the people. The po[CENSORED]r movement's demands have been far-reaching from the start, and its momentum has been sustained from one week to the next, with students, lawyers, judges, journalists, academics and even fire-fighters and army veterans demonstrating on the days between each massive Friday protest. A po[CENSORED]r slogan is: "1962: country liberated, 2019: people liberated." The big question now is whether Algeria's army will permit a transition that really gives sovereignty to the people.

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Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the ailing 82-year-old president of Algeria, handed in his resignation on live TV on the evening of 2 April. Unlike previous promises to resign, this time it was effective immediately. He was frail and silent. This was one of the very few times he had been seen in public in the last six years since he had a stroke in 2013 that left him partially paralysed and severely speech impaired. It followed six weeks of peaceful, but increasingly urgent protests across the country, which were characterised by youthful crowds, considerate clean-up projects and witty signs. Mr Bouteflika had led the country for 20 years - which, in a country where it's thought about 70% of the po[CENSORED]tion is under 30, makes him the only president many people have ever known. 'One down, more to go' Nourhane Atmani, 19, tells BBC News that she went to almost all of the recent demonstrations. "The past couple of weeks have been causing me, and thousands of other Algerians, a lot of anxiety and anger," she says. "So today, waking up knowing our efforts didn't go to waste definitely felt liberating. We've been waiting for this moment for a long time." Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigns amid protests Who could succeed Bouteflika? When Mr Bouteflika first came into power in 1999, the country was in the midst of a bloody civil war that had started in December 1991 and would continue until early 2002. He was largely credited with eventually restoring peace to the nation. Ms Atmani feels that, because of this, older generations allowed him to stay in power for an unjustifiable amount of time. "As a kid, every single adult around me would glorify him, as though he's some sort of god who saved the nation from terrorism, and he's the saviour everyone has been waiting for after 10 long years of [conflict] for Algeria," she says. "So once I grew up and started becoming more politically aware, I honestly was angry at the previous generation - it was them who kept making him out to be this great holy person, it was them who kept him on the chair [in power] and gave him the confidence to never step down." She adds that with many of the old guard still firmly in place, the protests are not going to stop. "When 'he' supposedly announced his stepping down, I exhaled for the first time in forever. One down, more to go." Disillusioned Fellow protester Abdellah Djelti, 27, agrees that Mr Bouteflika was seen as "a white knight, a saviour" for Algeria in the first few years of his presidency. "Algeria in the civil war, it was a disaster," he tells the BBC. "People couldn't go out - if you went out... you'd find bodies outside." Mr Bouteflika, he adds, was seen as the man who stopped this. But after four terms in office, mired by corruption, allegations of vote-rigging and an increasingly absent leader, people became frustrated. Instead of focusing on the past, they wanted a leader who could take them into the future - for example, by investing in education. "Most graduates from universities have no jobs," Mr Djelti says, "because the government doesn't give that importance to people's studies or education, or to scientific research." He adds that there are also few, if any, schemes to help students study abroad, and it is otherwise prohibitively expensive for the majority of young Algerians - something that, as an English literature student, he finds particularly hard. "I had a dream to study abroad, in England or the US, to visit other places. I have this dream to visit other museums because I have a passion for art and history," he says. "But since the situation here [with the government] is so bad... I haven't been able to do any of it." This is partly why he's spent almost two months protesting - and he says it felt "so good". He went from feeling like nothing would ever change to having hope. "The good thing is it was very peaceful, people were providing water, they were providing food... I felt patriotic asking for our rights, and our voice to be heard." Laughing, he adds: "In Algeria nowadays, the Algerian flag is always in your pocket - because you don't know when you'll end up in a protest." Plogging - with an Algerian twist Nacerddine Rahmoune, a 23-year-old activist from Sidi Bel Abbès, even introduced demonstrators to a Swedish trend called "plogging". Plogging is when people pick up litter and jog at the same time. The idea, for Mr Rahmoune, was that the protesters would help the local environment while they marched. "We took the same concept and gave it an Algerian touch," he tells the BBC, adding that he wanted to instil "an environmental consciousness in the minds of Algerians", while also joining the call for "a new [political] system with young, competent people". So, what now? Even though Mr Bouteflika has stepped down, it's clear the protests are far from over. "It's scary," Ms Atmani says. "I'm happy [Algerians are now] aware, but then I'm also afraid there's going to be a major split in ideologies when it comes to choosing who's to become president." Mr Rahmoune agrees, but he's more hopeful about the future: "We hope to see new faces and more youth in parliament, so we have a lot to do."

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