Is Algeria next ? "30,000 riot police deployed to control protesters"

After the lengthy but ultimately very successful protests in Egypt other dictatorships have been looking on with trepidation. Now there is movement in Algeria and this may be the next country to have mass protests. www.bbc.co.uk...

About 30,000 police are reportedly deployed in and around capital, and extra police with water cannons are on stand-by.

About 200 protesters gathered at Algiers' 1 May Square on Saturday morning.

They chanted "Bouteflika out!" - in reference to the country's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Some demonstrators waved copies of a newspaper front page with the headline about the ousting of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Friday, Reuters reports.

About 30,000 police are reportedly deployed in and around capital, and extra police with water cannons are on stand-by.

At least 15 police vans, jeeps and buses were lined up at the square and about the same number on a nearby side-street outside the city's Mustapha hospital.

Small military-style armoured vehicles were also parked at junctions around the city.

There is also said to be a crowd of supporters of President Bouteflika on the streets.

www.guardian.co.uk...

Thousands of riot police have been deployed in the capital of Algeria to stop an anti-government demonstration from gathering the momentum of the protests that forced out the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak.

About 50 protesters managed to reach the square in Algiers where the protest was due to take place but they were surrounded by hundreds of police and some were arrested, the Reuters news agency reported.

Opposition groups have called for a march to demand democratic change and jobs, but it has been banned by government officials and most residents have so far stayed away.

"I am sorry to say the government has deployed a huge force to prevent a peaceful march. This is not good for Algeria's image," Mustafa Bouachichi, a leader of the League for Human Rights, said.

Protesters who managed to reach May 1 Square, where the march was due to begin at 11am (10am GMT) shouted "Bouteflika out!" – a reference to the Algerian president – before police arrested some of

www.npr.org...

More footage of protests in Algeria.

Another link in these chain of events it appears, world leaders should be shaking in their boots.

I wonder if it gets the coverage Egypt did.

reply to post by Catch_a_Fire



I honestly think the dominoes are now falling, this could easily reach Pakistan which would be very worrying.Great for the people though I hope the police show restraint.

Well Pakistan is gaining more and more attention everyday, especially with this warrant for the bhutto murder being served.

I think Pakistan would be the nail in the coffin...so to speak.

Originally posted by tarifa37
reply to post by Catch_a_Fire

 

I honestly think the dominoes are now falling, this could easily reach Pakistan which would be very worrying.Great for the people though I hope the police show restraint.

Your post is like that two-face villain in the comic books.

It's bad...it's good!

It is bad enough that the Islamists may now wrest control in Egypt (say what you will about Mubarak's reign), but if they gain control in nuclear-armed Pakistan...God/Allah/Jehovah help us all.

reply to post by mobiusmale


That's what I meant its probably a good thing for Tunisia Egypt and now Algeria but could be a disaster in Pakistan.

reply to post by mobiusmale


I dont think theres a danger of nuclear arms getting into the hands of the people where Pakistan is concerned, theres too many other countries who would be on the sidelines ready to jump in. Im not saying they couldnt still get into the wrong hands but it wouldnt be the peoples IMO.

In Egypt the military showed a good deal of restraint and common sense and helped turn the tide for the revolution. Sounds like Algeria had some time to gets its government defences in place after what happened in Egypt, a lot of these other dictatorships are probably working on similar plans. It will take more public pressure to hold the government line as they can only jail so many people until the system is full, unless they start shooting. As long as enough people band together, I can see the military supporting the people in most circumstances as the military does come from the general population. All the people really need to do is stop working and go on strike, the city shuts down and the government losses its power. Given enough time and the government will have no other option than to leave as the city become dysfunctional.

I am not concerned about the nukes in Pakistan if that country does revolt as well. Nuclear weapons these days is more of a sign of nation independence than a tool of war. They would only be used if the nation is to become dead, as that would be the retaliation consequence for any nation that used them.

reply to post by tarifa37


Why would Pakistan be the exception when it comes to revolutions to expel dictators and replace them with a democracy? An Islamic government, if elected, would be just as loath to use nuclear weapons as a secular one would it not? After all, any nation choosing to use such a weapon pretty much guarantees its own extinction; especially a geographically small one.

reply to post by wayno


But in islam, martyrdem is glorified. People go out of their way to become martyrs.

The chance of self extinction would be a reason to do it!! Not a reason against.

Really seems like these regimes have taken lessons from Mubaraks mistakes. Algeria is trying to kill this of with force, Yemen is deploying counter-protesters in the early stages and Iran is cutting of Internet and phone communication. There is only a matter of time before the tactics of Iran is deployed everywhere, destroying the communication between protesters is key. Of course, there is the chance this is only going to enrage the masses further.

Wonder if Libya will be affected soon. kinda like the removal of the keystone, the toppling of Africa.

reply to post by kwakakev

I am not concerned about the nukes in Pakistan if that country does revolt as well. Nuclear weapons these days is more of a sign of nation independence than a tool of war. They would only be used if the nation is to become dead, as that would be the retaliation consequence for any nation that used them.

...Assuming, of course, that they would be so dumb as to launch them from their soil at somebody that would therefore know who to retaliate against.

More likely, over some time, a number of weapons would make their way to the soil of America, the UK, Israel (maybe some others), on boats or planes and positioned in certain strategic places. One day, their would be a collection of mushroom clouds sprouting up around the Western world...and then we would look around and try to figure out who was behind it - but without the direct evidence of tracking an ICBM from launch to detonation, it might be difficult to justify an immediate nuclear response against Pakistan...could have been the Russians, or the Chinese, wanting us to think it was Pakistan.

I think that if the Islamists gain total control of Pakistan's nukes, and they then intended to use them against us, they would be much more stealthy than simply launching missiles.