Argelia y Yemen: ecos de la crisis en Egipto.

12 Febrero 2011 , Escrito por El polvorín Etiquetado en #Politica

Algerian riot Police scuffle with protestors during a demonstration in Algiers, 400 people were arrested.

Policía detiene a 400 personas en Argelia (Mohamed Messara/ Efe) Bajo el prolongado estado de emergencia (vigente desde 1992) están prohibidas las protestas en Argel, pero las reiteradas advertencias del gobierno de que no hubiera concentraciones callejeras aparentemente cayeron en oídos sordos.

Unas 400 personas fueron detenidas en Argel, cuando participaban de una manifestación contra el gobierno de Bouteflika, mientras que en la capital yemení marcharon unas 1000 personas; Kadafi, en Libia, afrontará una gran marcha de protesta el 17 de febrero.

Yemeni activist Tawakul Karman.

Yemeni activists

Ecos de la crisis en Egipto: hubo violentas manifestaciones en Argelia y Yemen.

Sábado 12 de febrero de 2011 |

ARGEL (AP).- Más de 400 personas fueron arrestadas anoche durante una marcha de protesta por la democracia en la que participaron miles de personas en la capital argelina, denunció un activista por los derechos humanos.

Ali Yahia Abdenour dijo que hubo mujeres y periodistas extranjeros entre los detenidos durante la protesta, realizada horas después de la caída del presidente egipcio Hosni Mubarak. Abdenour, dirigente de la Liga Argelina por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, dijo que unos 28.000 efectivos de seguridad bloquearon la marcha y dispersaron a la multitud.

Los organizadores dijeron que participaron unas 10.000 personas, pero fuentes oficiales dieron una cifra de apenas. 1500. Los manifestantes entonaron lemas como “No al estado policial” y “Afuera Bouteflika”, en referencia al presidente Abdelaziz Bouteflika, que ha estado en el poder en esta nación del norte del Africa desde 1999.

Bajo el prolongado estado de emergencia -vigente desde 1992- están prohibidas las protestas en Argelia, pero las reiteradas advertencias del gobierno de que no hubiera concentraciones callejeras aparentemente cayeron en oídos sordos.

La marcha tiene lugar en un momento difícil, después del levantamiento popular en Egipto que obligó al presidente Hosni Mubarak a abandonar el cargo después de 30 años en el poder. También se produce un mes después que otra “revolución popular” en la vecina Túnez obligó a salir al exilio al autócrata Zine El Abidine Ben Ali el 14 de enero.

El éxito de esos movimientos alimenta las esperanzas de quienes buscan cambios en Argelia, aunque muchos en esta nación temen toda perspectiva de violencia después de haber sobrevivido una brutal insurgencia de extremistas islámicos en los años 90 que dejó unos 200.000 muertos.

La marcha busca reformas democráticas en Argelia y no incluye un llamamiento específico a la salida de Bouteflika. Fue organizada por la Coordinación para el Cambio Democrático en Argelia, un centro que agrupa a organizaciones de derechos humanos, activistas, sindicalistas, abogados y otros.

Entre los manifestantes, que gritaban en árabe “Argelia libre”, figuraban Said Sadi, presidente del partido opositor Reunión por la Cultura y la Democracia (RCD), y el dirigente islamista Ali Belhadj, del disuelto partido Frente Islámico de Salvación (FIS).

También Yemen y Libia. Al menos dos manifestantes antigubermentales resultaron heridos hoy en Saná cuando cientos de partidarios del presidente, Ali Abdullah Salih, se enfrentaron armados con cuchillos y bastones a los opositores al régimen.

Los manifestantes contrarios al régimen portaban pancartas reclamando la salida de Salih. “íTú eres el tercero, oh Ali!”, podría leerse en una de las pancartas. En otros lugares de Yemen, miles de personas salieron a las calles para celebrar la dimisión de Mubarak.

El gobierno de Salih, que dirige el país desde hace 32 años, afirmó hoy que respeta “las elecciones del pueblo egipcio”.

Tras la fuga del ex presidente tunecino Ben Alí y el egipcio Mubarak, el coronel Muammar Kadafi, presidente de Libia, se enfrentará este 17 de febrero a una multitudinaria marcha organizada por la oposición llamada la “Jornada de la Cólera”.

En el poder desde 1969, Kadafi no permanecerá en él por mucho tiempo, estiman los analistas internacionales. “La cólera es muy fuerte, hasta ahora explotó en pequeñas dosis, pero el riesgo de que explote en toda su potencia es alto. Pienso que el ejército mantendrá el poder, como en Egipto”, afirmó Antoine Basbous, fundador y director del Observatorio del Mundo Arabe.

Agencias AFP, AP y EFE

400 Arrested At Algeria Rally Demanding Reforms

Thousands Rally Despite Heavy Police Presence

AOMAR OUALI, Associated Press

POSTED: 9:17 pm PST February 11, 2011

February 12, 2011

Images: Thousands Defy Ban To Rally For Algeria Reforms

ALGIERS, Algeria — Thousands of Algerians defied a government ban on protests and a massive deployment of riot police to rally in the capital Saturday, demanding democratic reforms a day after similar protests toppled Egypt’s authoritarian leader.

Heavily armed police tried to seal off the city of Algiers, blocking streets, lining up along the march route and setting up barricades outside the city to try to stop busloads of demonstrators from reaching the capital.

But despite the heavy security, thousands flooded into downtown Algiers, clashing with police who reportedly outnumbered them at least three-to-one. A human rights activist said more than 400 people were arrested.

Tensions have been high in this sprawling North African nation of 35 million since five days of riots in early January over high food prices. Despite its vast gas reserves, Algeria has long been beset by widespread poverty and high unemployment, and some have predicted it could be next Arab country hit by the popular protests that have already ousted two longtime Arab leaders in a month.

Protesters chanted “No to the police state!” and “Bouteflika out!” – a reference to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has led the nation since 1999.

The heavy police presence and barricades turned Saturday’s 3-mile (5-kilometer) march into a rally at the First of May square.

Ali Yahia Abdenour, head of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights, said women and foreign journalists were among those detained Saturday. Abdenour, 83, was also jostled by security forces who surrounded him and tried to persuade him to go home.

Under Algeria’s nearly two-decades-long state of emergency, protests are banned in the capital, but many ignored repeated government warnings to stay away. One activist called Saturday’s protest a key turning point.

“This demonstration is a success because it’s been 10 years that people haven’t been able to march in Algiers and there’s a sort of psychological barrier,” said Ali Rachedi, the former head of the Front of Socialist Forces party. “The fear is gone.”

Organizers said an estimated 28,000 security forces were on hand for the protest, which they said drew about 10,000 participants. Officials put the protest turnout at around 1,500.

Said Sadi, head of the opposition Rally for Culture and Democracy, RCD, said the scale of the police deployment showed “the fear of this government, which is in dire straits.”

“We’re going to continue to demonstrate and to defy the authorities until they fall,” Sadi vowed.

Saturday’s protest came just a day after an uprising in Egypt forced Hosni Mubarak to resign after 30 years in power and a month after another “people’s revolution” in neighboring Tunisia forced autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali into exile on Jan. 14.

The success of those uprisings is fueling activists’ hope for change in Algeria, although many in this conflict-scarred nation fear any prospect of violence after living through a brutal Islamist insurgency in the 1990s that left an estimated 200,000 people dead.

Saturday’s rally was organized by the Coordination for Democratic Change in Algeria, an umbrella group for human rights activists, unionists, lawyers and others. It was called to press for democratic reforms but did not specifically demand that Bouteflika resign.

Bouteflika, a 73-year-old plagued with health problems, hails from a single-party system that has loosened but remained in power since Algeria’s independence from colonial master France in 1962. Widely credited with pacifying a country ravaged by insurgency, Bouteflika is blamed for not doing enough to spread Algeria’s oil and gas riches among his people.

Many Algerians see Bouteflika as too old and secluded to relate to the public. However, he handily won a third term in 2009, garnering 90 percent of the vote in a race that pitted him against five low-profile challengers.

To quell tensions after January’s food riots, the government slashed the price of sugar and cooking oil. Last week, mindful of the Tunisian and Egyptian protests, authorities said the state of emergency – in place since 1992 – will be lifted in the “very near future.” They warned that the ban on demonstrations in the capital would remain.

The Islamist insurgency was set off by the army’s decision to cancel Algeria’s first multiparty election in January 1992 in order to thwart a likely victory by a Muslim fundamentalist party. Scattered violence continues.

___

Jenny Barchfield in Paris contributed to this report

An Algerian protester holding an Algerian flag as he is chased by Police officers during a demonstration in Algiers, Algeria, Saturday Feb. 12, 2011. Some thousands of people defied a government ban on demonstrations and poured into the Algerian capital for a pro-democracy rally Saturday, a day after weeks of mass protests toppled Egypt’s authoritarian leader. (Sidali Djarboub, Associated Press)

Algerian protesters holding their national flag chanted slogans including “No to the police state” and “Bouteflika out,” a reference to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, during a demonstration in Algiers, Algeria, Saturday Feb. 12, 2011. Some thousands of people defied a government ban on demonstrations in the Algerian capital, holding a rally Saturday, a day after weeks of mass protests toppled Egypt’s authoritarian leader. (Sidali Djarboub, Associated Press)

Algerian protesters holding their national flag chanted slogans including 'No to the police state' and 'Bouteflika out,' a reference to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, during a demonstration in Algiers, Algeria, Saturday Feb. 12, 2011. Some thousands of people defied a government ban on demonstrations in the Algerian capital, holding a rally Saturday, a day after weeks of mass protests toppled Egypt's authoritarian leader. (Sidali Djarboub, Associated Press)

Protesters chant slogans outside the Egyptian embassy during a demonstration against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in Algiers, Algieria, Wednesday Feb, 9, 2011. Banner reads 'For the new proposal, Mubarak leave'. (Sidali Djarboub, Associated Press)

Algerian protesters face riot Police during a demonstration in Algiers, Algeria, Saturday Feb. 12, 2011. Some thousands of people defied a government ban on demonstrations in the Algerian capital, holding a rally Saturday, a day after weeks of mass protests toppled Egypt's authoritarian leader. (Sidali Djarboub, Associated Press)

Algerian riot Police scuffle with protestors during a demonstration in Algiers, Algeria, Saturday Feb. 12, 2011. Some thousands of people defied a government ban on demonstrations in the Algerian capital, holding a rally Saturday, a day after weeks of mass protests toppled Egypt’s authoritarian leader. (Sidali Djarboub, Associated Press)

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Africa, Argelia, Egipto, Levantamientos en África, Yemen