عاجل : مصادمات عنيفة بين المتظاهرين والامن في الجزائر

Quote: Security forces clashed with anti-government protesters chanting "change the power" in the Algerian capital of Algiers on Saturday. About 100 protesters were detained, according to the Algerian League for Human Rights, one of the main opposition groups that organized the rallies. The demonstrations were mostly peaceful, with police rounding up protesters in small groups to break up the crowds. Anti-riot police were gathered at the scene. Woolsey: Next step marks Egypt's fate RELATED TOPICS Algeria Egypt Police are preventing protesters from assembling, said Khalil AbdulMouminm, the general secretary for the Algerian league. "The situation is very tense on the ground...and the authorities have blocked all entrances to the capital," he said. Earlier Saturday, police officers had moved into place as demonstrators gathered. The marches, which were not authorized, come a day after Hosni Mubarak resigned as president of Egypt following weeks of protests. Mubarak's ouster was preceded by last month's overthrowing of Tunisian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, helping fuel demands for reform in the Arab world. "We want this rally to break the wall of fear in the first place," AbdulMouminm said. "And to trigger change in order to reach our legitimate demands, like lifting the emergency law after all these years, liberating media, freedom of political expression." In the past few weeks, demonstrators in the region have protested against various issues, including unemployment, high food costs and corruption. The problems are similar to those that fueled uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. Earlier this month, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said he will end a state of emergency that has last nearly two decades, according to a report from the Algerian Press Service. The state of emergency was imposed in 1992 to quell a civil war between the Algerian government and Islamist forces. However, opponents of the regime say the Islamist threat has long since diminished and that the law now exists only to muzzle any public criticism of the government. Experts have said the announcement is a clear attempt by the Algerian leader to head off the kind of social unrest that toppled Ben Ali and Mubarak.