Algeria cracks down on 'prostitutes' at resort

ALGIERS (AFP) - Algerian security forces arrested 46 women suspected of prostitution in the popular seaside resort of Tichi and had them charged with "incitement to debauchery," the daily Echourouk said Friday.

The women were detained overnight Wednesday and appeared in court on Thursday in the nearby town of Bejaia. Eight of the suspects were ordered into preventive custody.

Echourouk added that 10 of the women were ordered to leave the region within 48 hours.

Some of the women, aged between 16 and 59, have already been in prison. The Arab-language paper, which did not give its sources, said that three of them had been connected with terrorism and one was the widow of an Islamic extremist.

On May 6, demonstrators laid waste to several hotels in the area, demanding their closure for "offending the moral standards of the region". The protesters called themselves the May 6 Movement and said their aim was to put an end to bad social trends.

They announced, according to Echourouk, that they would hold sit-ins every Thursday night outside the headquarters of the local administration to press for the closure of nightclubs and the prosecution of their owners.

Thursday night is the start of the Algerian weekend, when hotel nightclubs are packed. Tichi, a town on the Mediterranean coast, is very popular with tourists.