Heavy casualties in Algiers clashes

Hundreds of thousands swarmed into the city

Two journalists have been killed and hundreds of other people injured in fierce clashes between mainly ethnic Berber protestors and police in the Algerian capital Algiers.

Violence erupted during a demonstration attended by hundreds of thousands of people called by Berber community leaders to denounce government repression.

The two men died after being run over by a man speeding out of a burning depot in a bus.

At least 100 people were injured, though unofficial reports say many more were hurt.

The government recently launched a bloody crackdown on riots in the Berber region of Kabylie, which were sparked by the death of a young Berber in police custody.

Buildings ransacked

Rioters, some of whom were carrying knives and hatchets, pelted the police with stones. Gangs roamed the streets, ransacking public buildings and smashing shop windows.

Berber anger has eclipsed the country's long-running civil war

They destroyed the glass front of the Sofitel, the most luxurious hotel in Algiers, and set fire to dozens of cars. At least one government building is said to have been set on fire.

Several people were reportedly injured when riot police opened fire with live ammunition on looters in the port area of the city.

This was later denied by the Interior Ministry.

"The police remained calm. At no moment did they use any kind of weapons of that nature," said Interior Ministry Secretary General Mohamed Guendil, speaking on television.

Protesters' demands

Protesters were forced back with tear gas and water cannon as they tried to march towards the presidential parliament.

President Bouteflika: Under pressure

The march's organisers said they had refused a request from the interior ministry to change their route.

They insisted on sticking to the original itinerary, in order to march towards the president's offices and demand a meeting with senior government officials.

Organisers said they wanted to hand the authorities a 15-point list of demands calling for the withdrawal of paramilitary gendarmerie troops from Kabylie and an end to punitive police raids against the population.

They have also called for the recognition of the Berber language Tamazight as an official language and an emergency economic programme to ease social frustration in the region.

A series of almost daily protests in Algeria are putting pressure on President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and his powerful military government.

Disturbances are also reported to have erupted on Thursday in Bejaia, a main city in Kabylie, 180 km (110 miles) east of Algiers, where young protesters erected barricades and threw stones at public buildings.