Thousands of people joined a peaceful march Sunday in a northeastern Algerian town in memory of the victims of weeks of riots in the region dominated by ethnic Berbers, residents said.
The march in Souk El Thenine, about 300 kilometers (180 miles) east of the capital Algiers, was called by local leaders of the Socialist Forces Front (FFS), said AFP.
The residents said protesters shouted anti-government slogans calling for freedom of expression, an end to injustice and official recognition of the Berber language to give it the same status as Arabic, a longstanding grievance of the minority group.
The FFS was also behind a march by some 200,000 people on Thursday in the capital, which ended in skirmishes between rival groups of youths.
That event was in protest at the bloody crackdown against the riots in Kabylie by paramilitary police. The riots broke out after a youth was fatally shot in police custody in Kabylie on April 18.
Some 51 people have been killed and 1,300 injured in the region since then, according to an official tally, while witnesses, the press and the opposition put the death toll at between 60 and 80.
Meanwhile, head of the commission appointed by Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to look into Berber unrest has called on the security forces to stop using live ammunition against protesters.
The commission head, Mohand Issaad, said the police tactics were "poisoning the atmosphere" in the Kabylie region, the BBC.online quoted him as saying Sunday.
He called on the Algerian government to order them not to open fire on unarmed crowds.
"No-one likes to see his country put to fire and sword, or one region of his country put to fire and sword. This is why I am worried, why I call on the authorities to do what should be done so that peace returns," Issaad said.
"The authorities must do more than launching an appeal. They have to give an order to stop using live ammunition."
Senior officials in the Algerian National Gendarmerie announced that "firm instructions" had been issued to avoid the use of firearms against protesters in Kabylie, said the news service.
The officials said at a press conference in the Berber capital that "recorded abuses" by gendarmes were being investigated and several gendarmes would be tried – Albawaba.com
