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Algerian police disperse students protesting pro-election rally
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Algerian police on Monday forcibly dispersed university and high school students demonstrating against a rally in central Algiers in support of upcoming presidential elections.At least ten people were arrested out of some 200 demonstrators, mostly students and a few passers-by, who were protesting against Thursday’s vote, chanting "no to the election." Protester Abdelkrim, 22, said the students had gathered in the central Algiers University campus in support of a general strike that started on Sunday and came out into the streets when they saw pro-election supporters rallying unhindered. "We wanted to express our rejection of the elections just as they expressed their opinions," he said. Some 400 people had gathered on Monday morning and demonstrated, undisturbed, in support of the widely opposed election in the same area in central Algiers used as a rallying point for anti-regime protests that started February 22. For nine months, protesters have marched weekly to demand that Thursday’s vote not entrench a political elite linked to longtime strongman Abdelaziz Bouteflika  ...10th president-for-life of Algeria. He was elected in 1999 and served on his third or four terms. When he announced for the fifth, or maybe it was the sixth, visibly doddering, a grateful nation rose up in its wrath and threw him out..., who quit in April in the face of mass demonstrations. Forced to clear the streets, the students gathered outside the university where they chanted anti-regime slogans. Backers of the vote meanwhile rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud such as "army and people are brothers," in support of the army which has assumed de facto power since Bouteflika’s resignation. They also chanted "no to foreign interference" in the upcoming polls. Posted by: Fred 2019-12-10 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=558056 |