Algeria Detains 100 Protesters During Algiers Sit-In

Algerian authorities detained 100 people today during a peaceful sit-in in the capital inspired by pro-democracy protests in Egypt and Tunisia, Mustapha Bouchachi, head of the League for the Defense of Human Rights, said.

“This is evidence that the authorities don’t accept peaceful demonstrations,” Bouchachi said in an interview at the protest in Algiers. “2011 will be a year for change. This is the first attempt.”

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced Feb. 3 that the government would lift the North African country’s 19-year-old state of emergency “in the very near future,” state-run Algeria Presse Service said. He also said demonstrations, banned under the state of emergency, would be permitted across Algeria, except in the capital.

The lifting of the state of emergency has been a rallying point for protesters who staged demonstrations across Algeria last month. The measure was imposed after the cancellation of the country’s first multiparty elections that Islamists were set to win in 1992.

To contact the reporter on this story: Salah Slimani at sslimani2@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mahmoud Kassem at mkassem1@bloomberg.net.

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