Police Beat Back Protesters in Algeria's Follow-up of Tunisia, Egypt Riots

Riot police detain protesters during a demonstration on 12 February 2011 in Algiers,Algeria. The demonstrators were demanding the ousting of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. EPA/BGNES

Thousands of riot policemen broke up an anti-regime rally in Algeria's capital Algiers inspired by the success of the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt where protesters overthrew presidents Ben Ali and Mubarak within the past month.

Several thousand demonstrators are reported to have rallied in May 1 Square in Algiers demanding the resignation of Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in power since 1999.

30 000 riot police officers were deployed to beat back the Algerian aftershock of Hosni Mubarak's resignation as President of Egypt Friday night.

Various reports say 400 protesters were are arrested, and most of them were released shortly after that.

The Algerian Interior Ministry posted a statement on its web site saying that 250 people had taken part in the protests and that 14 people had been detained and later released.

The media spokesman for the coordinating committee seeking democratic change in Algeria said that 70 people had been arrested and that about 30 remained in detention, as cited by The New York Times. Those detained included the group's main organizers, as well as human rights activists, union organizers, members of women's associations and groups formed to track the missing and killed during the civil war in the 1990s.

Algeria's government has operated under a state of emergency for nearly two decades. Some anti-government protests broke out in early January as the same times as in Tunisia, including some in which demonstrators clashed with members of Algeria's security forces.

On Friday, several people were wounded outside the office of the main opposition group by security forces as they were celebrating the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak after 18 days of anti-government protests in Egypt.

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