Berber protests continued this past week in Algeria. In Algiers, thousands of protesting youth clashed with police, resulting in some injuries. The protest was of a youth festival held in Algiers that the Berbers say, according to AFP, is just ?a masquerade to improve the reputation of a repressive government.? It was the second time they have tried to defy a government ban against protests since a series of violent protests in April over alleged police brutality, unemployment, overcrowding and cultural discrimination in their homeland region of Kabylie. The Berbers are the non-Arab natives of North Africa, overwhelmed by Moslem Arabs during their conquest of the Berber lands. Over the period of two months Algerian Police shut down a Berber uprising using automatic weapons against youths in Kabylie. At least 80 people were killed and 2,000 injured.
In a related story of human rights in the Arab world, al-Bawaba , an Arab news gateway website, reported that the Mansur Kikhia Foundation For Democracy and Human Rights announced that it would stage a protest in front of the Libyan mission to the UN on September 1. They will be protesting the ?abuse of human rights by Moammar Kadhafi?s regime? and its ?involvement in domestic and international acts of terrorism against innocent civilians.? The Kikhia Foundation invites ?all Libyans and all human rights supporters to participate?? The Foundation is named after a Libyan human rights activist, who was abducted and allegedly killed by Libyan agents in Cairo on December 10, 1993 - while attending a human rights conference.
In a related story of human rights in the Arab world, al-Bawaba , an Arab news gateway website, reported that the Mansur Kikhia Foundation For Democracy and Human Rights announced that it would stage a protest in front of the Libyan mission to the UN on September 1. They will be protesting the ?abuse of human rights by Moammar Kadhafi?s regime? and its ?involvement in domestic and international acts of terrorism against innocent civilians.? The Kikhia Foundation invites ?all Libyans and all human rights supporters to participate?? The Foundation is named after a Libyan human rights activist, who was abducted and allegedly killed by Libyan agents in Cairo on December 10, 1993 - while attending a human rights conference.