Algiers: About 500 students have rallied in
Algeria's capital, part of the wave of unrest in Arab world to
register discontent with national governments.
Today's protest near the ministry of higher education
follows scattered strikes and protests in recent weeks in
defiance of a ban on public gatherings in Algiers dating to a
bloody Islamic insurgency in the 1990s.
The students want the government to scrap a new law
that dilutes the value of their diplomas by giving equal
status to less-qualified degree holders in the job market.
Police were out in force, and some students claimed
they were beaten bloody with police sticks.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has promised to lift a
19-year-long state of emergency, including the ban on public
gatherings, by month's end.
PTI
First Published: Monday, February 21, 2011, 23:08