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Organizers of an anti-government demonstration in the Algerian capital say several thousand people have gathered in the city center.
Under the country's long-standing state of emergency, protests are banned in the capital, Algiers, and hundreds of riot police were on hand Saturday. They blocked streets and charged the crowd in a bid to prevent protesters from reaching the city center.
gov puts police women at the first line of the shield against protester
Breaking: about 2000 protesters bypass security barricades
People carrying cameras, flags, journalists, human rights defenders are the most arrested
Proposed sign of goodwill: STOP harassing protesters & attacking them with teargas!
More than twenty self-immolations in Algeria since 4 weeks. Four persons died. Blocked roads, riots, strikes,...on a daily basis
Crowd getting bigger and bigger, new groups of young men joining in, shooting "Bouteflika Serrak" (Bouteflika the Thief)
The situation in Algeria at the moment is very tense. Protesters are expecting police to move in soon
Trains and buses have been stopped and protesters are being cordened in.
Algerian political events (1991–2002)Main articles: Algerian Civil War and List of Algerian massacres of the 1990s
Elections were planned to happen in 1991. In December 1991, the Islamic Salvation Front won the first round of the country's first multi-party elections. The military then intervened and cancelled the second round. It forced then-president Bendjedid to resign and banned all political parties based on religion (including the Islamic Salvation Front). A political conflict ensued, leading Algeria into the violent Algerian Civil War.
More than 160,000 people were killed between 17 January 1992 and June 2002. Most of the deaths were between militants and government troops, but a great number of civilians were also killed. The question of who was responsible for these deaths was controversial at the time amongst academic observers; many were claimed by the Armed Islamic Group. Though many of these massacres were undoubtably carried out by Islamic extremists, some claimed that the Algerian regime supposedly also used the army and foreign mercenaries to conduct attacks on men, women and children and then proceeded to blame the attacks upon various Islamic groups within the country.
AlgiersElections resumed in 1995, and after 1998, the war waned. On 27 April 1999, after a series of short-term leaders representing the military, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the current president, was chosen by the army.
Post warBy 2002, the main guerrilla groups had either been destroyed or surrendered, taking advantage of an amnesty program, though fighting and terrorism continues in some areas (See Islamic insurgency in Algeria (2002–present)).
Algeria 'to lift emergency laws' Foreign minister says 19-year-old emergency will end "within days" amid calls for more protests against government.