Algiers Police Disperse Protest after Ministry Warning

Demonstrators march with banners and flags during a protest demanding political change, in Algiers, Algeria April 9, 2021. (Reuters)
Demonstrators march with banners and flags during a protest demanding political change, in Algiers, Algeria April 9, 2021. (Reuters)
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Algiers Police Disperse Protest after Ministry Warning

Demonstrators march with banners and flags during a protest demanding political change, in Algiers, Algeria April 9, 2021. (Reuters)
Demonstrators march with banners and flags during a protest demanding political change, in Algiers, Algeria April 9, 2021. (Reuters)

Police dispersed a small protest in central Algiers on Friday and stopped other small groups of demonstrators from reaching the city center after weekly rallies since February that usually draw thousands.

It was unclear whether the small number of protesters who came out on Friday was due to Islam's Eid al-Fitr holiday or tougher government rules announced on Sunday.

Dozens of police rushed at the 100 people who tried to protest in central Algiers, forcing them to flee, a witness said.

In Bab al-Oued district, about 200 protesters marched but were unable to move past a police cordon to join groups elsewhere in the city, witnesses said.

Eid al-Fitr, when people traditionally gather with family or friends at the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, began on Thursday and continued on Friday.

On Sunday the Interior Ministry warned that it would no longer tolerate protests held without a permit that named the organizers and included starting and finishing times.

It laid down a challenge to the leaderless protest movement that erupted in 2019 when hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets to protest then Abdelaziz Bouteflika's candidacy for a fifth term as president.

The mass protests led the army, Algeria's ultimate power brokers, to abandon Bouteflika and he stepped down. However, the protests continued with demonstrators demanding a more thorough overhaul of the ruling elite, an end to corruption and for the army to quit politics.

Although the security forces have not moved to quash the protests with force, international rights groups have accused them of attempting to suppress the movement using a wave of arrests.

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, elected in a vote boycotted by the protest movement, has praised the demonstrations as a moment of national renewal, but has also sought to end them.

Official campaigning starts next week for parliamentary elections, which the protest movement also looks set to boycott and which Tebboune hopes will help him turn a page on the unrest.



At Least 34 People Killed in Israeli Strikes in Gaza

Palestinians carry the bodies of people killed during overnight Israeli strikes, at Al-Shifa hospital in the central Gaza Strip on June 28, 2025. (by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Palestinians carry the bodies of people killed during overnight Israeli strikes, at Al-Shifa hospital in the central Gaza Strip on June 28, 2025. (by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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At Least 34 People Killed in Israeli Strikes in Gaza

Palestinians carry the bodies of people killed during overnight Israeli strikes, at Al-Shifa hospital in the central Gaza Strip on June 28, 2025. (by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Palestinians carry the bodies of people killed during overnight Israeli strikes, at Al-Shifa hospital in the central Gaza Strip on June 28, 2025. (by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

At least 34 people were killed across Gaza by Israeli strikes, health staff say, as Palestinians face a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and ceasefire prospects inch closer.

The strikes began late Friday and continued into Saturday morning, among others killing 12 people at the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, which was sheltering displaced people, and eight more living in apartments, according to staff at Shifa hospital where the bodies were brought. Six others were killed in southern Gaza when a strike hit their tent in Muwasi, according to the hospital, The Associated Press reported.

The strikes come as US President Donald Trump says there could be a ceasefire agreement within the next week. Taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office Friday, the president said, “we’re working on Gaza and trying to get it taken care of.”

An official with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that Israel's Minister for Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, will arrive in Washington next week for talks on Gaza's ceasefire, Iran and other subjects. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Talks have been on again off again since Israel broke the latest ceasefire in March, continuing its military campaign in Gaza and furthering the Strip's dire humanitarian crisis. Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, fewer than half of them believed to still be alive. They were part of some 250 hostages taken when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, sparking the 21-month-long war.

The war has killed over 56,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. It says more than half of the dead were women and children.

There is hope among hostage families that Trump’s involvement in securing the recent ceasefire between Israel and Iran might exert more pressure for a deal in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is riding a wave of public support for the Iran war and its achievements, and he could feel he has more space to move toward ending the war in Gaza, something his far-right governing partners oppose.

Hamas has repeatedly said it is prepared to free all the hostages in exchange for an end to the war in Gaza. Netanyahu says he will only end the war once Hamas is disarmed and exiled, something the group has rejected.

Meanwhile hungry Palestinians are enduring a catastrophic situation in Gaza. After blocking all food for 2 1/2 months, Israel has allowed only a trickle of supplies into the territory since mid-May.

Efforts by the United Nations to distribute the food have been plagued by armed gangs looting trucks and by crowds of desperate people offloading supplies from convoys.

Palestinians have also been shot and wounded while on their way to get food at newly formed aid sites, run by the American and Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to Gaza's health officials and witnesses.

Palestinian witnesses say Israeli troops have opened fire at crowds on the roads heading toward the sites. Israel’s military said it was investigating incidents in which civilians had been harmed while approaching the sites.