Despite a government ban, thousands of Algerian protested, demanding democratic reforms, on Saturday. Reportedly four hundred people were arrested in the capital, Algiers, as the the government tried to regulate protests with the ban and by blocking the streets.
Heavily armed police set up barricades in an attempt to prevent buses of protestors from entering the city to demand that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika resign. Riot police outnumbered protestors 3 to 1, as some 30,000 guarded the streets as 10,000 demonstrators demanded democracy. (La Liberte Daily News)
In power since 1999, Bouteflika watched as his people rioted for five days in January of this year, due to sky-high food prices, poverty and high unemployment. Bouteflika is another world leader in the line of Arab leaders who have been forced to leave power; Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigned on Friday, and Tunisia removed President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on Jan. 14.
(via CTV)
No comments:
Post a Comment