Once again Algerian police break up Algiers protest

ALGIERS- Police prevented a banned protest march here on Saturday that was due to start from the Concorde Square (former May 1 Square) to the Martyrs Square.

Large numbers of police were mobilized Saturday at the main entrances or arteries leading to the Concorde Square to prevent the march staged by the National Coordination for Change and Democracy (CNCD).

Between 200 and 500 protestors gathered at the Concorde Square and Mohamed-Belouizdad Street. One of the demonstration’s organizers told reporters that “the large number of police dissuaded people from joining the march.”  

Algerian police in riot gear have used batons to break up a crowd of about 50 opposition supporters trying to take part in a protest march inspired by uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world.

Police brandishing clubs, but no firearms, weaved their way through the crowd in central Algiers on Saturday, banging their shields, tackling some protesters and keeping traffic flowing through the planned march route.

The gathering, organised by the Co-ordination for Democratic Change in Algeria (CNCD), comes a week after a similar protest, which organisers said brought an estimated 10,000 people and up to 26,000 riot police onto the streets of the capital. Officials, however, put turnout at the previous rally at 1,500.

The fresh protest comes on the heels of uprisings in neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt that toppled those countries’ leaders.

Police presence at Saturday’s march was more discreet than the week before, when huge contingents of riot police were deployed throughout the capital the night before the march. On Friday night, by contrast, the capital was calm, with police taking up their positions only on Saturday morning.

Still, by breaking up the crowd, the police managed to turn the planned march into a chaotic rally of small groups.