The 2019–2021 Algerian protests, also called Revolution of Smiles or Hirak Movement (Arabic: الحِرَاك, romanized: al-Ḥirāk, lit. 'The movement'), began on 16 February 2019, six days after Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced his candidacy for a fifth presidential term in a signed statement. These protests, without precedent since the Algerian Civil War, were peaceful and led the military to insist on Bouteflika's immediate resignation, which took place on 2 April 2019. By early May, a significant number of power-brokers close to the deposed administration, including the former president's younger brother Saïd, had been arrested.