Algerian Chief of Staff General Ahmed Gaid Salah pledged on Tuesday to ensure the country’s security amid protests against President Abdulaziz Bouteflika’s run for a fifth term in office. Salah also criticized those who he said want to return to the "painful years" of the 1992-2002 civil war "during which the Algerian people experienced all forms of suffering and paid a heavy price." The armed forces chief of staff said in a speech at a military academy outside Algiers that the countrys success "in eradicating terrorism... has displeased some parties who are upset to see Algeria stable and safe." The people will continue to enjoy "security and stability" of which the army "will remain the guarantor", the general, who is close to Bouteflika, said according to an official transcript. The army chief, who is deputy defense minister, urged Algerians to be ready to "erect a rampart against anything that could expose Algeria to unpredictable threats". Protests have seen tens of thousands of people take to the streets of the North African country since last month demanding the 82-year-old president resign. Bouteflika, who suffered a stroke in 2013 and is rarely seen in public, promised on Sunday that if he wins elections in April, he will organize a "national conference" to set a date for further polls which he would not contest. His pledge, made in a letter read out on state television, has been dismissed as an insult by Algerians weary of his two-decade-old rule. Bouteflika has been in Switzerland since February 24 for what the presidency has described as "routine medical tests". Thousands of students marched in the capital and other cities on Tuesday in the latest display of public anger. Abderahman, a 21-year-old student, said Bouteflika "wants an extra year" in power. "We dont want him to stay even an extra second. He should leave now," he said. Police deployed across the center of the capital where protests have been banned since 2001. "Hey Bouteflika, there wont be a fifth term," the students chanted. Onlookers applauded them and motorists honked their horns in a show of support. Thousands of students also rallied in the center of Algerias second city Oran, an AFP reporter said. Local journalists in the cities of Constantine and Annaba said thousands more students had also joined protests, while Algerian media reported demonstrations in other cities. The European Commission has stressed the importance of freedom of expression and rule of law, following days of protests which have seen tens of thousands of people take to the streets. "The right to freedom of expression and assembly are written in the Algerian constitution," said commission spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic. "We expect that these rights can be exercised in a peaceful way and guaranteed in respect for the rule of law," she told journalists.