Tens of thousands of people in cities across Algeria called on President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to leave office on Friday in the biggest anti-government demonstrations there since the Arab Spring eight years ago.
The protests were mostly peaceful but as crowds receded by late afternoon, scuffles broke out in the capital Algiers between police and protesters near the presidential palace, witnesses said.
On person died during a stampede, an informed source said. Local media said it was a 60-year old man who had collapsed but no more details were immediately available.
Several protesters and policemen were wounded during clashes in Algiers, state television said, without giving further details.