Throughout her time in Algeria, she and her family regularly attended the weekly Protestant service at the Reformed Church building in central Algiers.

A large bomb had exploded in central Algiers on Oct. 31, injuring four people but causing no deaths.

Ahmed Belhadj and his wife, Farisha, live on the roof of his mother's building in central Algiers.

There were two bombs in central Algiers on the morning of 11 December 2007.

The police blocked all entry points into Algiers and put in a security cordon around May First Square in central Algiers.

Though minor protests occurred earlier in the day, most protesters came out after noon; several thousand protestors clashed with about 30,000 police at May First Square in central Algiers.

Among the protesters were hundreds of teachers who had assembled in central Algiers.

Small groups demonstrated in central Algiers for about three hours.

Even as Mr. Bouteflika celebrated, hundreds of protesters who were gathering in a square in central Algiers, mostly young men, were charged by the police.

"Intense gunfire" broke out for about an hour near the government palace in central Algiers soon after the decree was announced, Agence France-Presse reported.