Kebangkitan rakyat Algeria, Kerajaan tutup internet & facebook

7:25PM GMT 12 Feb 2011 Internet providers were shut down and Facebook accounts deleted across Algeria on Saturday as thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators were arrested in violent street demonstrations.

Algerian protesters chant slogans during a demonstration in Algiers Photo: EPA

Plastic bullets and tear gas were used to try and disperse large crowds in major cities and towns, with 30,000 riot police taking to the streets in Algiers alone.

There were also reports of journalists being targeted by state-sponsored thugs to stop reports of the disturbances being broadcast to the outside world.

But it was the government attack on the internet which was of particular significance to those calling for an end to President Abdelaziz Boutifleka's repressive regime.

Protesters mobilising through the internet were largely credited with bringing about revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia.

"The government doesn't want us forming crowds through the internet," said Rachid Salem, of Co-ordination for Democratic Change in Algeria

Newspapers report on the upheavals over the border and there is only desultory blocking of a few opposition websites. Even in the cafes bordering Green Square, created to rival Moscow’s Red Square, televisions were tuned to Al Jazeera.

New clashes: Algeria has seen the latest wave of protests across North Africa