- Title: ALGERIA: ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTERS CLASH WITH POLICE IN ALGIERS.
- Date: 15th June 2001
- Summary: ALGIERS, ALGERIA (JUNE 14, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV/GV: WIDE OF DEMONSTRATION/ THOUSANDS OF PROTESTERS HOLDING BANNERS AND CHANTING (8 SHOTS) 0.45 2. LV/GV: VARIOUS CLASHES BETWEEN PROTESTERS AND POLICE/ TEARGAS CANISTERS BEING THROWN INTO CROWD (7 SHOTS) 1.13 3. MV/GV/PAN: WOUNDED BEING TAKEN TO HOSPITAL IN AMBULANCES (3 SHOTS) 1.30 4. GV/LV: MORE OF DEMONSTRATION/ PROTESTERS BURNING CARS/ BURNING SHOPS/ WIDE OF RIOT SCENE (6 SHOTS) 2.00 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 30th June 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ALGIERS, ALGERIA
- Country: Algeria
- Reuters ID: LVAE0M6H36E6ARJQ7D7KH5XAQVR8
- Story Text: Hundreds of thousands of protesters have clashed with
the authorities in Algiers while taking part in an
anti-government march against the bloody police crackdown of
riots in the Berber region of Kabylie in the past two months.
Hundreds of cars, buses and lorries carrying
demonstrators blocked a motorway in the Mohamadia district,
five km (three miles) from downtown Algiers where the march
was officially due to start on Thursday (June 14), witnesses
and organisers said.
Organisers said they expected more than one million people
to attend the march, the latest in a series of street protests
that have put President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and the powerful
military leadership under pressure.
Demonstrators waved black banners in a sign of mourning
for the deaths of 52 Berber rioters during street clashes with
security forces that have convulsed Kabylie.
The unrest, that also left hundreds of wounded among
protesters and security forces, was sparked by the shooting in
custody of a teenager at a gendarmerie barracks on April 18.
Thursday's demonstration was called by a committee of
delegates representing towns and villages in Kabylie, a
mountainous region southeast of Algiers which is a traditional
hotbed of opposition to central rule.
There were concerns over possible clashes with police
because the government and organisers disagreed on the
scheduled route of the march.
An Interior Ministry statement carried by the official APS
news agency said only a traditional three-km (two-mile)
itinerary would be authorised.
But organisers were maintaining a plan to march towards
the presidential headquarters and demanded a formal meeting
with high-ranking government officials.
Hundreds of riot police, backed by water cannon, blocked
the access to the main Avenue de l'Independance leading up to
the presidency as protesters started to gather, chanting in
French "Generals, murderers" and "No forgiveness".
Tear gas canisters were thrown at the demonstrators and
several people were taken to hospital with injuries.
Several opposition parties, including the leading
Socialist Forces Front (FFS) and the Rally for Culture and
Democracy (RCD), as well as human rights groups supported the
march.
Organisers said they wanted to hand authorities a 15-point
list of demands calling for the withdrawal of the paramilitary
gendarmerie troops from Kabylie and an end to punitive police
raids against the population.
They have also called for the recognition of the Berber
tongue Tamazight as an official language and an emergency
economic programme to ease social frustration in the region.
zd/jrc
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
