Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika made a rare public appearance on Monday which some considered an "early campaign for the fifth mandate," others called it a "farewell visit" because of ailing condition following years of illness.
The government organized unprecedented arrangements for this visit and the president was received by a large number of residents and a group of cavalrymen who fired gun shots in the sky to welcome Bouteflika's first field tour since 2016.
Mayor of Central Algeria, Hakim Batash, organized the event to welcome the President. Batash is known for his affiliations with Bouteflika.
"The Algerians will be surprised by the celebration we dedicated to the president," Batash told reporters on the eve of the visit.
Security forces were heavily deployed on the road between the presidential palace and the city center, 6 km away. Municipal buses arrived from the outskirts of Algiers, which, according to the head of a cultural association, carried municipal employees, schoolchildren and activists of parties loyal to the President.
The presidential procession arrived at the Martyrs' Square, which was closed for years after plans to establish a Metro station.
In a wheelchair, the 81-year-old President arrived to unveil an inaugural plaque at the entrance of the capital's Ketchaoua mosque, which reopened after three years of renovation.
People gathered on both sides of the road chanting for Bouteflika while carrying his images and national flag. Security men were seen in the roofs of buildings, many of them in the vicinity of the President's convoy.
The mosque dates back to the 17th century during Ottoman empire and was recently restored by a Turkish company. It is classified by UNESCO as World Heritage Site.
Bouteflika gave the signal to reopen the mosque and entered the prayer hall accompanied by ministers of religious affairs, housing and public works. As he left the mosque, the president paused to greet the people who were chanting for him, however he didn’t say a single word and looked left and right at the crowds, raising his right hand toward the crowd to greet them in gratitude.
Occasionally, Bouteflika would gather his hands in reference to unity, which observers explained as a message to Algerians to unite in the upcoming presidential election and support him if he were to run for a fifth term. While others understood it meant inviting Algerians to remain united after he left office.
It is reported that people close to the president advised him to rest and not respond to appeals calling him to run for a new term.
His appearance comes as the secretary general of the National Liberation Front (FLN), DJamel Ould Abbes, asked Bouteflika to run for a fifth term as head of state in presidential polls set for 2019.
The request was made Saturday at a meeting of ministers and members of parliament from the FLN, a party of which Bouteflika is the honorary president.
The president has not publicly spoken since April 28, 2014, when he took the constitutional oath after winning a fourth term. Back then, he read only a short paragraph of a long speech.
In 2008, Bouteflika amended the constitution to allow himself to run for more than two terms. On the eve of his fourth term in 2014, the state news agency published a letter saying he did not want a new term.
