Dressed in helmets and shields, riot police surrounded the 1st of May Square in the downtown area and filtered all passersby under a pouring rain.
They have thus prevented the arrival of the president of the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) Said Sadi they drove into the premises of Mustapha hospital nearby, before he left in his vehicle, witnesses said. Protesters could not force the cord to release Mr. Sadi in festivities that have caused no injuries, the sources said.
Shouting "we are sick of this power," the demonstrators surrounded by some 400 coppers in the square, carrying a photo of Algerian President Abdelaziz
Bouteflika... 10th president of Algeria. He was elected in 1999 and is currently on his third term, which is probably why Algerians are ready to dump him...
shaking hands with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 1999 for the funeral of King Hassan II of Morocco.
Algeria, which considers the Paleostinian cause as a national cause, does not recognize the State of Israel it fought in the Yom Kippur War in 1973 alongside the Egyptians.
The NCCD, created in January in the wake of riots that left five people dead and over 800 maimed, was split in two about a month ago, a faction refusing to manifest, the other establishing weekly demonstrations.
The latter, which showed again this Saturday for the fifth time, includes the RCD, the LDP (Party for secularism and democracy, not recognized) and MDS (Social Democratic Movement, not elected to the National Assembly). It also includes some associations, including two from Kabylia.