Algerian demonstrators on Friday rejected a call for dialogue by the country's new president, as they continued their month-long movement's demanding institutional reforms.
Huge crowds flooded the streets of the capital Algiers on the 44th consecutive Friday of anti-government protests, a day after the new leader, establishment insider Abdelmadjid Tebboune, was sworn in.
Tebboune won last week's presidential election.
"It's you or us. We will never stop," protesters chanted.
"I don't accept this president... and I am against the dialogue the ruling establishment is offering," said Amar Alileche, a 66-year-old protester.
"Negotiations must lead to the departure of the old regime," he said.
Tebboune, 74, succeeds to president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who resigned in April in the face of huge demonstrations after two decades in office.
A former prime minister who served under Bouteflika, Tebboune is seen as close to the chief of the armed forces Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaid Salah, who is reviled by protesters and has become the de facto strongman since Bouteflika quit.
Following his election, Tebboune invited the protest movement to engage in dialogue and has vowed to appoint young ministers and push for a new constitution.
But his comments were rejected by the protest movement, called Hirak.
During his swearing-in ceremony on Thursday, he renewed his offer "to reach out to everyone".
He also said that a new constitution would reduce the authority of the president and "guarantee the separation and balance of powers".
But protesters are demanding deep reforms they say should be carried out by "transitional institutions" with no ties whatsoever to members of the former political establishment.
"The Hirak will continue until all its demands are met," said Ali Salhi, 53, an employee with Algerian energy giant Sonatrach.
"There must be a radical change of the system, a transition and a new constitution. We need concrete measure," he said, echoing the comments of other activists.
Protesters also hit the streets in the country's second city Oran despite a heavy police deployment, Said Salhi, vice president of the Algerian human rights group LADDH, said quoting local activists.
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