Algerian authorities stifle pro-democracy protests (Roundup)

Feb 12, 2011, 14:03 GMT

Algiers/Paris - Algerian police on Saturday cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrators trying to stage marches in the capital Algiers and other cities, in a show of force aimed at thwarting an Egypt- or Tunisia-style popular revolt.

In Algiers, an estimated 2,000 demonstrators gathered on the central May 1 square for an unauthorized march through the city to protest the government of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

But they quickly found themselves hemmed in by a huge contingent of riot police, who baton-charged protesters, barred all routes out of the square and made dozens of arrests, forcing the organizers to eventually call it off.

'It was always intended as a peaceful march. We don't want violence with the security forces,' Khelifi Abdelmouman, head of the Algerian Human Rights League, one of the organizers, told dpa after the order to disperse was given.

The league is part of the Coordination for Change and Democracy (CNCD), a grouping of trade unions, human rights organizations and left-wing parties that called protests in several cities on Saturday to press for democratic reforms.

Demonstrators also tried to march in the cities of Oran in the west, Annaba in the east, Ouargla in the south and El Bayadh in the south, but in each case were barred by police.

In Algiers - mostly middle-class men - chanted slogans calling for 'a free and democratic Algeria.' Others called for Bouteflika to resign.

But they were soon overwhelmed by a massive security presence. On Friday, thousands of riot police had been deployed across the city in vans and armoured trucks.

Abdelmouman said about 200 people, including opposition politicians, had been arrested in Algiers and several more in regional cities.

The protest comes a day after mass demonstrations forced Egyptian president Hosny Mubarak to step down after 30 years and a month after demonstrators across the border in Tunisia toppled their longtime leader Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.

The tumult in those countries rattled nerves in Algeria, where many people fear that mass protests could plunge the vast gas-rich country back into bloodshed.

In the 1990s, the state fought a war against Islamist extremists, in which more than 100,000 people were killed.

The violence abated after Bouteflika announced am amnesty for the rebels in 1999. But in recent years extremist groups claiming links to al-Qaeda have carried out several attacks.

The biggest opposition party, the Socialist Forces Front (FFS), did not participate in Saturday's demonstration.

Party leader Karim Tabou told Radio France International that while he supported the quest for greater freedom, the task was complex because of Algeria's history.

'Algeria needs more work, more serious (efforts) than simple popular agitations,' he said.

Said Sadi, leader of the second-biggest opposition party, the Rally for Culture and Democracy, which was at the forefront of Saturday's protest, told dpa earlier in the week that violence was inevitable if people were barred from protesting peacefully.

Algeria, a vast desert country rich in oil and gas but most of whose 35 million people live in poverty, experienced several days of rioting in January over food prices and unemployment, in which at least three people were killed and hundreds injured.

Several people have also killed themselves in recent weeks by setting themselves on fire.

To appease critics, Bouteflika said last week that the 19-year-old state of emergency, under which protests and media freedoms have been curtailed, would be lifted 'in the very near future.'

He also announced other reforms, including food price cuts.

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