- Title: ALGERIA: Thousands of police demanding better pay rally in protest
- Date: 8th March 2011
- Summary: ALGIERS, ALGERIA (MARCH 7, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF THOUSANDS OF COMMUNITY POLICE OFFICERS RALLYING IN ALGIERS OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT POLICEMEN CHANTING SLOGANS CALLING FOR HIGHER PAY (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PROTESTER ASHURI IBRAHIM, SAYING: "They denied my disability, they gave me only 60 percent, this is not enough to live on, this means I have to go back to work." MORE OF THOUSANDS OF PROTESTERS GATHERED FOR RALLY PICTURE OF PRESIDENT ABDELAZIZ BOUTEFLIKA VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS CHANTING IN FRONT OF LINE OF RIOT POLICE MORE OF PROTESTERS CHANTING FOR HIGHER PAY ELDERLY MAN SHOWING INJURED LEG
- Embargoed: 23rd March 2011 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Algeria, Algeria
- Country: Algeria
- Topics: Police
- Reuters ID: LVA2B3R0GEQB18WUN28PVDD5SUDY
- Story Text: Some ten thousands auxiliary police officers marched to the Algerian parliament on Monday (March 7) as they demanded higher pay.
The demonstrators said that their salaries and pension were too low for them to survive on and makesmeet.
"They denied my disability, they gave me only 60 percent, this is not enough to live on, this means I have to go back to work," said Ashuri Ibrahim, one of the protesters.
Demonstrators say that more than 4,000 policemen have have been killed in violence with Islamist groups since 1994 and many have been injured.
On February 24 Algeria lifted a 19-year state of emergency in a concession to the opposition designed to keep out a wave of uprisings sweeping the Arab world.
Ending the emergency powers was one of the demands voiced by opposition groups which have been staging weekly protests in the Algerian capital that sought to emulate uprisings in and neighboring Tunisia.
The state of emergency was imposed to help the authorities combat Islamist rebels, but in the past few years the violence has subsided and government critics have alleged the emergency rules are being used to repress political freedoms.
The lifting of the state of emergency will have few practical implications. New rules were also adopted which will allow the military to continue involving itself in domestic security, as it had done under the emergency powers.
The emergency rules banned protest marches in Algiers, but President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said this month the restriction would remain in force indefinitely.
Bouteflika, who is 73, is likely to remain under pressure -- both from protesters and from inside the ruling establishment -- to deliver more change and to explain to the public what he plans to do.
Algeria is a major energy exporter that pumps gas via pipelines under the Mediterranean to Europe. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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