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Algerian Police Try to Block Egypt-Inspired Protest

   VOA News  February 12, 2011
   Algerian  protesters  chant slogans during a demonstration in Algiers,
   Algeria, February 12, 2011

   Algerian  protesters  chant slogans during a demonstration in Algiers,
   Algeria, February 12, 2011

   Thousands of riot police tried to block off Algeria's capital Saturday
   to  stop  activists  from  holding  an  anti-government  demonstration
   inspired by the uprising in Egypt.
   But  demonstrators  defied the ban, gathering in the center of Algiers
   and  chanting  "Bouteflika  out"  in  reference  to Algerian President
   Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
   News  reports  said  the crowds were in the thousands, but that police
   far  outnumbered the protesters. Arrests were reported as police moved
   to disperse the demonstrators.
   Protests  are  banned in Algiers under Algeria's 19-year-long state of
   emergency.  The  Algerian government has promised to lift the state of
   emergency in the future.
   The   unrest   in   Algeria   builds  on  a  wave  of  anti-government
   demonstrations in the Middle East and North Africa, and comes just one
   day  after  Egypt's  uprising  forced Hosni Mubarak to resign from the
   presidency after 30 years in power.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
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