Algerians Rally Against Government

Angered by alleged fraud in last week’s local elections, opposition parties and pro-government allies joined forces Thursday to stage the largest antigovernment protest in six years.

The demonstration, which drew an estimated 30,000 people to the streets of Algiers, was a clear signal to President Liamine Zeroual that the multiparty political system he put in place must be given a larger voice in the nation’s affairs.

Rows of women in head scarves from a moderate Islamic party marched before rows of militants from an anti-fundamentalist group, finding common anger at the local elections won by the government.

“Algerians are all brothers,” the crowd sang out as they marched from the working-class neighborhood of Belcourt to the government headquarters of the Algiers region, next to the parliament building.

Chanting “Stop the fraud!” and “Cheating thieves!,” the protesters called for the resignation of Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia, installed by Zeroual.

In the wake of daily protests since Saturday, the presidency announced Thursday that Zeroual would deliver a speech on national television and radio tonight. It did not elaborate.

No violence was reported during the march, the largest antigovernment gathering since the military-backed regime canceled legislative elections in January 1992.

The Islamic Salvation Front had been expected to win the 1992 election because of voter discontent with corruption and high unemployment in the petroleum-rich nation. The insurgency that began after the elections were canceled has left an estimated 75,000 people dead.

Riot police stood watch during the march Thursday and sharpshooters were posted on rooftops.

“This is the beginning,” Sheik Mahfoud Nahnah, head of the moderate Islamic party, Movement for a Peaceful Society, told The Associated Press. “We refuse dictatorship. We refuse one-party politics. We refuse silence over the election fraud.”

Politicians and many newspapers now refer to the government as the “RND state,” a reference to the pro-government National Democratic Rally that placed first in local voting Oct. 23 and in June parliamentary elections.