Algeria will not be swamped by a wave of unrest spreading through Arab states because it is investing its energy revenues in improving peoples' lives, a senior ally of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said.Abdelaziz Belkhadem, head of Algeria's ruling FLN party and a cabinet minister, acknowledged the authorities could be doing more but said that, unlike in Egypt or Tunisia, Algerian protesters were not demanding a change of government.
Until the people demand a change of government, why should the government “do more?”
More than 10,000 protesters marched against authorities in Algeria’s northeastern city of Bejaia on Saturday in the country’s largest rally yet.[...]
Demonstrators marched peacefully in the city, chanting slogans such as: "For a radical change of the regime!”
Sounds a little like a demand for a change of government to me.
Meanwhile colleagues prevented yet another man, a bank employee, from setting himself alight after dousing himself with petrol in front of his employer's headquarters in an Algiers suburb Sunday.The bank his employer had refused him financial aid to care for his handicapped daughter, an fellow employee of the local development bank BDL told AFP. He had worked there for 18 years.
Most BDL agencies in the Algiers region closed in solidarity with the man.
That incident marked the 10th attempted self-immolation since January 12.
The spate of such incidents follow the self-immolation in neighbouring Tunisia of 26-year-old Mohammed Bouazizi.
[S]several towns, including the capital, experienced days of rioting provoked by a jump in food prices. Two people died and hundreds were injured in clashes with police.Belkhadem, whose ministerial title is the president's personal representative, said that was nothing new for Algeria, which is more tolerant of dissent than many Arab countries. "We have arrests and riots on a daily basis," he said.
That’s gotta be the greatest blow-off I’ve ever heard.
No need to “do more.” This is just life in Algeria.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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