Algeria: Protesters at #Feb12 March Arrested, Beaten

This post is part of our special coverage on Algeria Protests 2011.

The protesters for democracy have already taken down two dictators in Tunisia and Egypt but the Algerian authorities have been successful so far in holding down protests that have started soon after the Tunisian revolts in early January 2011.

Algerian protests from the facebook album of RCD Algerie

Videos of thousands of protesters have been posted on You Tube and facebook. The following video posted on February 12 around 11 am London time shows the arrests of several activists as police forces clashes with protesters amidst chants:

Photos of injured people have also began to surface such as this image of Algerian MP Derguini Boubekeur's bruises on the forehead:

Algerian MP Derguini Boubekeur hurt during protests via RCD Algerie facebook page

Bloggers and twitter users in Algeria have posted several updates from the protests.

For instance, Nidhal on the blog Algérie-politique writes on February 11:

Alger. 19h00. Des dizaines de policiers anti émeutes ont encerclé le siège régional du RCD à Didouche Mourad à Alger.

Algiers. 19h00. Dozens of anti-riots policemen were circling the RCD regional head quarters in Didouche Mourad in Algiers.

The revolution in Tunisia and Egypt were clearly on Algerians’ minds.
An unemployed 36-years-old man set himself on fire and died in the Eastern town of El Oued, Algerie Politique reports (fr):

Ce vendredi, un chômeur de 36 ans qui s'était immolé par le feu dans la ville d'El Oued, à l'extrême est de l'Algérie, a succombé à ses brûlures. Lotfi Maamir, père de six enfants, est mort au service des grands brûlés de l'hôpital de Douera, dans la banlieue sud-est d'Alger, selon cette source. Il s'agit du quatrième décès par immolation enregistré en Algérie depuis la mi-janvier.

Lofti Maamir, father of 6, died at the emergency care of the Douera Hospital, in the south-east suburb of Algiers, according to our source. It's the 4th casualties by self-immolation in Algeria since mid-January.

As Mubarak was ousted in Egypt, Algerian blogger Djazair avant tout could not help but refer to the contentious Egypt-Algeria football matches last year that led to violent clashes and posted
the following cartoon that says (fr):

Mubarak ousted from power: Egypt 1 – Algeria 0 ” we must equalize. Out with Boutef ” (Algerian president's nickname)

Algerian cartoonist Dilem reacts to Mubarak ousting via Djazair avant tout

Similar protests are being held in the town of Oran according to live stream updates on several blogs.
A Facebook user posts the following update about the Feb 12 march (fr):

Les jeunes envoyées par la police pour agresser les manifestants se sont retournés contre leurs sponsors. Ils se sont mêlés aux manifestants pour scander Bouteflika dégage. Ils expliquent leur retournement par le fait qu'ils ont été manipulés

The young people sent by the police to harass the protesters turned against their sponsors. They actually joined the protesters to shout Out with Bouteflika. They explain their decision by the fact that they felt manipulated ( by the police)

On twitter, Algerian twitter users are calling for support for their struggles on the twitter feed with the hash tag #feb12.

This post is part of our special coverage on Algeria Protests 2011.