Algeria: 1,500 protesters blocked by police

About 1,500 people were prevented by security forces from taking to the street in Algiers Saturday, according to spokesman for the Democratic Coordination for Change Mustapha Bouchachi.

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  The march was supposed to take place from the area of 1er Mai to the Martyrs Square. A total of 40,000 policemen were mobilised to prevent the demonstration.
  

  Early in the morning, tens of people rushed to the 1er Mai square. Of them, there were Mustapha Bouchachi, spokesman for the Democratic Coordination for Change, Mustapha Bouhadef, first national secretary of the Socialist Forces Front (FFS) party, Said Saadi, leader of the Rally for Culture and Democracy party (RCD), Ali Benhadj, man No 2 of the banned-Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) and Fodil Boumala, Coordination’s member.

  At about 10:45 a.m, Ali Belhadj appeared and was accompanied by three men shouting “Allah Akbar” (God is the greatest).

  While the demonstrators were blocked, they gathered in 1er Mai square shouting different slogans anti-regime.

  “We are here for a peaceful march and to call for opening all freedoms. Unfortunately, we can not do anything because of security measures. I have never seen such a huge number of policemen in my life. It’s a pity. When we see what happened in Egypt, eight days ago. They were protected by Copts when they were praying. What I keep in mind from this image is that we can live together in spite of our divergences and tendencies,” said FFS’ former national secretary.