THOUSANDS of Algerians demonstrated on Saturday against plans to exploit shale gas in the the country.

More than a thousand people protested in the city of ­Ouargla, 466 miles south-east of Algiers and another thousand hit the streets of Ain Salah, 785 miles south of the capital.

The protests were called by a coalition of opposition parties and human rights groups firmly opposed to the fracking method of gas extraction.

Demonstrations have continued since the beginning of the year against environmental damage related to the exploitation of shale gas reserves.

Algeria announced plans to drill for the gas in 2014, with an initial test well dug in Ahnet, near Ain Salah.

Previous protests against fracking had turned violent when police clashed with ­demonstrators at a base ­outside Ain Salah run by not­orious US company Halliburton.

Protests against Halliburton and government gas company Sonatrach flared almost daily for two months and resulted in injuries to police and protesters.

Hundreds of police officers confronted activists in the capital Algiers in late February to prevent a demonstration, beating and detaining activists.

Algeria has seen huge investment in shale gas exploration.

However, this has been ­consistently opposed by residents, who are concerned by the environmental effects of fracking and gas exploration and their protests show no signs of slackening.
Algeria holds the fourth-largest recoverable reserves of shale gas in the world, after the US, China and Argentina and it is a major supplier to the EU.
international@peoples-press.com