Gaid Salah died at Ain Naadja military hospital in Algiers just one after the December 12 presidential election

The head of the Algerian Army, Ahmed Gaid Salah, considered the country’s strongman, died Monday at the age 79 after a heart attack, state television reported.

Gaid Salah died in the military hospital of Ain Naadja in Algiers, according to the same source, just a few after the presidential elections of December 12, in which former Prime Minister Abdlemajid Tebboun was elected.

For months the streets of Algiers were the scene of popular protests that led to the resignation of a new mandate from the historic Abdelaziz Bouteflika, forced by the street and the pressure of General Ahmed Gaid Salah.

A little loved man

The deceased today also sparked popular discontent despite having pushed the resignation of Bouteflika under article 102 of the Constitution which sets out the causes for setting the impediment of the country’s president.

The protest marches have been held in all regions of the country every Tuesday and every Friday, marked by two slogans: “We want a civil state, not a military one” and “Gaid Salah, go away, the people are sovereignty and claim freedom”. The new president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, announced a seven-day mourning period across the country following the death of the army chief.