Global General

Algerian police deployed for pro-opposition march

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-02-12 16:45

ALGIERS - Thousands of anti-riot Algerian policemen have been deployed across the capital Algiers ahead of an opposition rally planned for the capital on Saturday, Dubai- based Al-Arabiya TV reported.

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On Thursday, local daily Echorouk said Algerian authorities are poised to mobilize up to 25,000 policemen ahead of the rally, adding half of the new reinforcements are anti-riot policemen to be stationed across the capital.

Hoping to build on the momentum generated by the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia and then the Nile revolution in Egypt, the National Coordination for Change and Democracy (CNCD), a body of opposition parties and civil society groups, has called for the march and said it would defy a ban on protests in force since 2001 after protests in the Kabylie region left eight dead and hundreds wounded.

Algerian authorities have refused to sanction the holding of the rally, which is be staged at 10:00 GMT.

Earlier the year, riots and protests, lasted for five days, broke out across Algeria against skyrocketing food prices and unemployment in the oil-rich North African country.

Four men have been killed and 800, including 736 policemen, have been wounded in the protests.

Meanwhile, a dozen Algerians have set themselves on fire since January, among whom three died, in an apparent imitation of Tunisian Mohamed Bouaziz, whose self-immolation sparked protests across the country and forced president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to step aside and fled the country.