Police in Tizi Ouzou, the capital of the predominantly Berber region of Kabylie, used tear gas grenades in an attempt to move the young Berbers staging a sit-down protest outside the headquarters of military police.

Stones and Molotov cocktails were thrown and anti-government slogans chanted by the protesters, who are furious at attempts by more moderate members of the Berber community to enter dialogue with the Algerian Government.

Meetings were scheduled on Thursday between the moderates and Algerian Prime Minister Ali Benflis to discuss the Berber community's demands for better social, economic and cultural conditions.

They also want their Tamazight language recognised as an official language alongside Arabic and the gendarme police that patrol their communities to be removed.

Riots

There have been riots within the Berber ethnic community in Algeria since April this year, when a Berber youth died in police custody.