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Algeria emergency

21/02/2011 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, Algeria emergency

How Algeria's experiement with democracy ended in civil war and a state of emergency.

Riots in Algeria in 1988 triggered a period of political upheaval that ended in a bloody civil war and a state of emergency that remains in force until today.

Rioting in Algeria in October 1988 killed around 500 people and started a period of political turmoil. A short-lived experiment in democracy ended in a violent civil war between Islamists and the Algerian army. A state of emergency remains in force until today.  Witness speaks to a foreign journalist and an Algerian student who both experienced a turning point in the country's history.

(Photo: Algiers citizens help to clean up the main avenue of the Belcourt area in Algiers 08 October 1988 after three days of rioting.)
(Credit: STF/AFP/Getty Images)

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