ALGIERS – Algerian police and pro-government activists on Saturday foiled a sixth attempt by opposition protesters to march in the capital Algiers. A faction of the National Coordination for Change and Democracy (CNCD) had called the protest for 11:00 am (1000 GMT) in defiance of an official ban on demonstrating in Algiers. But several dozen demonstrators found themselves quickly surrounded by police. Counter-demonstrators carrying photos of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika chanted “Bouteflika Is Not (Hosni) Mubarak” – the Egyptian president forced out by a popular uprising on February 18 – as they chased and roughed up the anti-government protestors.
The counter-demonstrators, mostly young people, then turned on Said Sadi, a member of the CNCD and the head of the small opposition Rally for Culture and Democracy, saying they would “lynch” him, according to an eyewitness, adding that Sadi fled the scene after shouting: “We will continue to march regardless of the steps the regime takes to prevent us.”
