Hundreds of thousands of Berbers marched Monday in Tizi Ouzou, Algeria's main Berber-speaking city, to demand the withdrawal of paramilitary gendarmes blamed for killing scores of rioters in April and May, reported Reuters.
Farmers and women from mountain villages in colorful traditional robes joined city dwellers to march on the regional governor's offices in Algeria's biggest street protest in years, the witnesses said.
Police and gendarmes kept a low profile as demonstrators chanted "Terrorist gendarmes out of our region." There were no immediate reports of violence or arrests.
Organizers put the crowd at more than 1 million. Independent reporters estimated about half a million, according to the agency.
"It is safe to say it is the biggest street demonstration since October 1991," an independent journalist was quoted by Reuters as saying, referring to a huge Berber-dominated rally in Algiers 10 years ago.
The crowds called on the Algerian government to pull the gendarmes out of Kabylie region, which comprises Tizi Ouzou and Bejaia provinces east of Algiers.
The demonstrators, who marched to the Tizi Ouzou police headquarters, were protesting the education ministry's decision to hold students' examinations on time, said the Associated Press.
A pro-Berber political party had asked for a postponement because riots last month caused interruptions at school, said the agency.
The Berbers, who claim to be the original inhabitants of North Africa, have had tense relations with Algiers for decades as part of a political struggle for official recognition of the Berber language, Tamazight.
Last month, violent rioting in the northeastern Kabyle region left at least 42 people dead. The unrest erupted after a high school student died in police custody. Police said an officer's gun went off accidentally but news of the death triggered riots across the mountainous region.
Also Monday, about 200 lawyers marched to city hall in Bejaia, about 110 miles east of Tizi Ouzou, to show support for those killed in Kabyle. They distributed a statement accusing the government of committing "human rights violations" and announced the formation of a lawyers collective to provide free legal aid to victims, according to the AP – Albawaba.com
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