More than 40 injured in Algeria clashes
AFP - Sunday, January 23
ALGIERS (AFP) - – Forty-two people were injured during clashes Saturday between police and pro-democracy activists at a banned demonstration in the Algerian capital, opposition leader Said Sadi told AFP.
"Forty-two have been wounded, two of them seriously. All of them have been taken to hospital," the president of the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), said. The party's spokesman Mohsen Belabbes, was among the injured, Sadi added.
Police meanwhile said seven of their men were injured during the protest, two of whom were in a serious condition, according to the APS news agency.
And the Ennahar daily said in a statement that one of its photographers had suffered serious head and shoulder injuries while covering the demonstration after someone threw a chair out of a first-floor window of the RCD's offices.
Sadi said there had been multiple arrests at the demonstration, without giving a precise figure while the police put the number of arrests at five.
The government had warned people not to show support for the rally in central Algiers in a statement issued on the eve of the march, amid fears of popular unrest spreading from neighbouring Tunisia.
Among those arrested was the head of the party's parliamentary group, Othmane Amazouz, the RCD leader said.
Another of the party's MPs, Arezki Aiter, was detained but released after an hour, the party said.
AFP - Sunday, January 23
ALGIERS (AFP) - – Forty-two people were injured during clashes Saturday between police and pro-democracy activists at a banned demonstration in the Algerian capital, opposition leader Said Sadi told AFP.
"Forty-two have been wounded, two of them seriously. All of them have been taken to hospital," the president of the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), said. The party's spokesman Mohsen Belabbes, was among the injured, Sadi added.
Police meanwhile said seven of their men were injured during the protest, two of whom were in a serious condition, according to the APS news agency.
And the Ennahar daily said in a statement that one of its photographers had suffered serious head and shoulder injuries while covering the demonstration after someone threw a chair out of a first-floor window of the RCD's offices.
Sadi said there had been multiple arrests at the demonstration, without giving a precise figure while the police put the number of arrests at five.
The government had warned people not to show support for the rally in central Algiers in a statement issued on the eve of the march, amid fears of popular unrest spreading from neighbouring Tunisia.
Among those arrested was the head of the party's parliamentary group, Othmane Amazouz, the RCD leader said.
Another of the party's MPs, Arezki Aiter, was detained but released after an hour, the party said.
