Algiers: Clashes took place Wednesday in northern Algeria between police and people protesting against an election meeting by a candidate standing in next month’s presidential poll, journalists said.
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“Outside the room where the meeting was to be held, stones were thrown and tear gas fired between protesters and police — it was heated,” a local journalist at the scene in Bouira told AFP.
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Multiple news sites said several hundred protesters converged before the candidate — Ali Benflis, a former prime minister — arrived for his meeting, some 90 kilometres southeast of Algiers.
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Several local news outlets reported many demonstrators arrested and several wounded.
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Benflis, who was premier under president Abdelaziz Bouteflika between 2000 and 2003, was eventually able to hold his meeting, according to a video posted on his Facebook account.
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The ailing Bouteflika stepped down in April after months of enormous protests against his two-decade rule.
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But large demonstrations continued against Algeria’s political establishment, fuelled afresh in recent weeks by significant opposition to the presidential election.
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The poll is due to take place on December 12, but protesters view it as a sham designed to shore up the status quo.
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All five candidates cleared to take part are known to have links to Bouteflika, including one other former prime minister who served under his tenure.
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