Radio Paradise

The Algerian government has said it will end its 19-year-old state of emergency "within days".

Mourad Medelci, the foreign minister, made the announcement on Monday, echoing a similar promise made by Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the president, earlier this month.

"In the coming days, we will talk about it as if it was a thing of the past," Medelci told French rmedia.

A state of emergency has been in place in Algeria since 1992 and the government has come under pressure to remove the laws following popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.

(...)

nuggler

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Location: RU Sirius ?
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Posted: Feb 14, 2011 - 4:59am
Eye On Algeria

HazzeSwede

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Location: Hammerdal
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Posted: Feb 13, 2011 - 12:37am
Here's CIAs' take on the country.(also a cannabis producer of proportions) CIA don't know that ? Also.. Some papers report's 10 000 protesters and four to five hundred arrested.

R_P

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Posted: Feb 13, 2011 - 12:04am
Unrest in Algeria Put Down by Police Algeria Suffers Some Internet Disruptions As Unrest Intensifies Mashable

R_P

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Posted: Feb 12, 2011 - 7:19pm

Yesterday Egypt, today Algeria
This was the slogan of the brave protesters in Algiers on Saturday, making the first breach in Algeria's wall of fear

A protester chants slogans during the demonstration in the Algerian capital, Algiers, on 12 February 2011, encircled by hundreds of riot police intent on preventing any repetition of events in Cairo, Egypt. Photograph: Reuters/Zohra Bensemra

Algiers – In the wake of Friday's historic events in Cairo, over 1,000 peaceful demonstrators defied a ban on protests in Algiers on the Place de 1er Mai on Saturday. The goal of the National Coordination Committee for Change and Democracy, the organisers of what was supposed to have been a march to Martyr's Square, was to call for an end to the 19-year state of emergency, for democratic freedoms, and for a change in Algeria's political system. Invigorated by Cairo's great event, this Saturday in Algiers they chanted slogans like "Djazair Horra Dimocratia" ("A free and democratic Algeria"), "système dégage" ("government out") and indeed, "Yesterday Egypt, today Algeria". (...)

R_P

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Posted: Feb 12, 2011 - 2:56pm

Algeria’s Internet, Facebook Shut Down As Unrest Intensifies

Protests in Algeria intensified today, and the Algerian government responded by deleting Facebook accounts and shutting down Internet service providers across the country.

In a volatile situation similar to that which brought down former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the Algerian government has dispatched 30,000 riot police in Algiers, and is resorting to tear gas and plastic bullets to try to discourage dissent, according to The Telegraph.

Algerians are calling this uprising the “February 12 Revolution,” as they protest government corruption, massive unemployment, housing problems and poverty. They would like to oust Algerian President Abdelaziz Boutifleka, whose police forces are also trying to silence journalists, according to The Telegraph.

From what we’ve seen so far, shutting down the Internet and deleting Facebook accounts is not going to work. We’re thinking this is just one of many revolutions that are about to sweep the Middle East.

triskele

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Location: The Dragons' Roost

Posted: Feb 12, 2011 - 8:29am

RichardPrins wrote:

Pro-democracy rally begins in Algeria, defying ban

Thousands of people are holding a pro-democracy rally in Algeria's capital Algiers, defying a government ban.

Scuffles broke out between the protesters and riot police and a number of people were reportedly arrested.

Algeria - like Egypt, Tunisia and other countries in the region - has recently witnessed demonstrations for greater freedoms and better living standards.

Public demonstrations are banned in Algeria because of a state of emergency still in place since 1992.
Heavy police presence

The protesters gathered at Algiers' 1 May Square on Saturday morning.

They chanted "Bouteflika out!" - in reference to the country's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Some demonstrators waved copies of a newspaper front page with the headline about the ousting of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Friday, Reuters reports.

About 30,000 police are reportedly deployed in and around capital, and extra police with water cannons are on stand-by.

At least 15 police vans, jeeps and buses were lined up at the square and about the same number on a nearby side-street outside the city's Mustapha hospital.

Small military-style armoured vehicles were also parked at junctions around the city.

There is also said to be a crowd of supporters of President Bouteflika on the streets.

On Friday, the authorities stopped people from gathering to celebrate the fall of Mr Mubarak.

The authorities want to avert any popular uprising similar to those in Tunisia and Egypt, as some Algerians say it is time to seize the moment, the BBC's Chloe Arnold in Algiers says.

However, others here say there is less of an appetite for political upheaval than in other countries in the region, our correspondent adds.

Algeria has a bloody recent history: it is emerging from two decades of violence with as many as 250,000 people losing their lives in a conflict between security forces and Islamist militants.

Earlier this month, President Bouteflika said the country's state of emergency would be lifted in the "very near future".

Mr Bouteflika made the announcement at a meeting with government ministers in the capital Algiers, according to the country's state-run media.

He said protests would be allowed everywhere in the country except in the capital.

Some people report the blocking of Facebook and Twitter. {#Mrgreen}

Thanks for starting this thread!

R_P

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Posted: Feb 12, 2011 - 8:19am

Pro-democracy rally begins in Algeria, defying ban

Some people report the blocking of Facebook and Twitter. {#Mrgreen}