More clashes in Algeria as opposition plans new protest next weekend

Hundreds of stone-throwing demonstrators clashed with police in the eastern Algerian city of Annaba yesterday, as the opposition announced another major anti-government rally next weekend.

The US State Department later yesterday called on Algerian security forces to show “restraint” during ongoing protests there, and said the rights of the Algerian people “must be respected.”

The next anti-government rally will be held February 19, said Mustepha Bouchahi of National Coordination for Change and Democracy (CNCD), an umbrella group of opposition parties, civil society movements and unofficial unions.

The announcement came a day after 2,000 protesters in Algiers braved 30,000 riot police as authorities scrambled to stop a wave of popular opposition inspired by events in Egypt and neighbouring Tunisia.

Demonstrations also took place in cities across the country, galvanising hopes of the opposition for change but also drawing European criticism of the government’s heavy-handed response.

“These people braved the ban to demonstrate peacefully,” Mr Bouchahi said, following a meeting by the umbrella group, which “denounced and condemned the brutal behaviour of the security forces.”

The crackdown did not appear to stop another demonstration in Annaba yesterday, where four police officers were slightly injured during clashes with young protesters outside the local government headquarters.

For their part, the media offered a mixed review of Saturday’s rallies, with the pro-reform daily Liberte topping its coverage with the headline: Change is on its way.

The Government daily El Moudjahid also reported on the Algiers rally on its front page, but dismissed it as only a “weak echo” of events in Egypt and Tunisia.

Public demonstrations have been banned in Algeria under a state of emergency put in place in 1992 but are allowed on a case-by-case basis outside the capital.

For its part, the national union of journalists condemned what it said was a violent crackdown on journalists covering Saturday’s demonstrations and said several were “violently attacked by police.”

The head of the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LADDH), Mustapha Bouchachi, said 300 people had been arrested Saturday in Algiers, the western city of Oran and the eastern city of Annaba. But both the opposition and authorities later said all those arrested were subsequently freed.

From Brussels, European Parliament head Jerzy Buzek demanded that Algerian authorities “shun violence and respect their citizens’ right to peaceful demonstration.” He also slammed Algeria’s state of emergency as “unjustifiable.” The CNCD is demanding the immediate end of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s regime, citing the same problems of high unemployment, housing and soaring costs that inspired uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.