ALGIERS, Algeria, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- An opposition leader in Algeria said protests would continue until the government falls despite a pledge Monday to end a 19-year-old state of emergency.
Mohsen Belabes, a spokesman for the opposition Rally for Culture and Democracy in Algeria, said his supporters still wanted regime change despite modest concessions from the government.
"We will continue to march until the regime steps down," he was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying. "Each Saturday we will maintain the pressure."
Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci announced Monday that the government was making preparations to lift the state of emergency in response to opposition complaints.
Hundreds of protesters clashed with riot police during the weekend, leaving at least four officers injured. Demonstrators are upset with rising levels of unemployment and high food prices. Similar complaints resounded across much of the Arab world as protests inspired by the collapse of the Tunisian and Egyptian government rippled across much of the region.
Demonstrations are banned in Algeria under a state of emergency declared in 1992 after the military canceled free elections. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika suggested he would lift the ban but protesters dismissed his promise and want him to step down.
