Algeria's protest movement is unlike any other — after massive weekly pro-democracy demonstrations, the protesters return to roam the streets picking up bottles, papers and other detritus left behind.

Key points: The clean up has become part of the weekly protest ritual, with groups organising on social media

The clean up has become part of the weekly protest ritual, with groups organising on social media Many families come out for the peaceful protests, often sitting on the edge eating picnic lunches

Many families come out for the peaceful protests, often sitting on the edge eating picnic lunches The protesters have forced President Abdelaziz Bouteflika from office

It is a powerful symbol of the movement's peaceful, hopeful spirit.

And it is no small task after events like the latest protest on Friday, when the boulevards of Algiers thronged with so many people that it took hours to traverse a few blocks.

After the protests started on February 22 against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and his entourage, organisers started sending messages on Facebook calling for demonstrators to stay peaceful and clean up after themselves.

Now the clean-up operation is a fundamental part of the Friday protest ritual, including individual volunteers pitching in around the city, along with more organised crews wearing orange vests.

Groups of young people roam the streets removing rubbish after the protests. ( AP: Fateh Guidoum )

"We're volunteers. We organised ourselves after appeals on social networks," Abdellah Debaili said.

"The shop owners give us free garbage bags. We have formed several groups."

He stands on a boulevard leading to the central post office, the most iconic gathering point of the movement, cajoling those passing by to discard their orange peels, coffee cups or newspapers in the black plastic bag at his side.

Each time they do, he smiles and thanks them.

"We're happy," he said.

"Because people congratulate us for doing this work."

Shop owners provide garbage bags to help with the clean up. ( AP: Fateh Guidoum )

The peaceful nature of the protests is especially important to Algerians after the horrors they lived through in the 1990s, when an Islamic insurgency fought the energy-rich country's security services for years and about 200,000 people were killed.

Protests now are a family affair.

The weekly demonstrations are peaceful and often watched by families. ( AP: Toufik Doudou )

Young couples come out to march with babies in slings or strollers and small children on their fathers' shoulders.

Even in crowded streets, protesters make way for demonstrators in wheelchairs.

On the edges, families sit on benches and eat picnic lunches — and clean up after themselves.

The tidy revolutionaries have drawn attention in France, where yellow vest protesters have been holding their own weekly protests for 21 weeks, and where protest violence has left stores and restaurants trashed or burned out and boarded up.

By contrast, in Algeria — once the jewel in France's colonial crown — protesters and local businesses are on the same side, and police rarely intervene.

The Algerian movement succeeded in forcing Mr Bouteflika from office this week, and is continuing to keep up pressure on a political elite seen as corrupt and repressive.

ABC/AP