RIYADH, Jan 22: A Saudi man and a Mauritanian man died after setting themselves on fire in their respective countries and 42 people were injured on Saturday as police pummeled protesters defying a ban on public gatherings in Algiers, in what could be events inspired by the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia.

The man who died in Saudi Arabia was not identified.

Civil defence spokesman Capt. Yahia Al Qahtani said in a statement carried by Saudi newspapers that the man, in his sixties, set himself on fire Friday and died in the hospital.

No motive was given.

It would be oil-rich Saudi Arabia's first such incident since an unemployed man set himself on fire in Tunisia last month protesting the economy and sparking riots which brought down the government.

Since that time there has been a wave of copycat immolations across the region, though with few fatalities.

In the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott, a family member said a man died after setting himself on fire.

The 43-year-old Yacoub Ould Dahoud was transferred to a clinic in Morocco after his self-immolation on Jan 17 in protest of Mauritania's government.

Family member Mohamed Ould Abdi said the businessman died on Saturday because of burns over 90 per cent of his body.

Algerian police action

Helmeted riot police armed with batons and shields pummeled protesters defying a ban on public gatherings in Algeria's capital, injuring 42 people, an opposition leader said.

Algeria has been among the many North African and Middle Eastern countries hit by shows of resistance against their autocratic leaders after a young Tunisian man set himself on fire last month, triggering a wave of protests that led Tunisia's longtime strongman to flee the country.

Protest organisers at the democratic opposition party RCD draped a Tunisian flag next to the Algerian flag on a balcony of party headquarters where the march was to begin.

Riot police, backed by a helicopter and crowd-control trucks, ringed the exit to ensure marchers couldn't leave the building — and striking those who tried to come out to take part. Outside, some young men waved the national flag and chanted “Assassin Power!”

“I am a prisoner in the party's headquarters,” Said Sadi, a former presidential candidate who leads the Rally for Culture and Democracy party, said through a megaphone from a balcony window.

Demonstrators shouted “Boutef out!” referring to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika — cries against Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali before he fled Jan 14 to Saudi Arabia amid huge street protests in Tunisia.

Some would-be marchers reportedly scuffled with police along the planned march route in Algiers.

The official APS news agency said seven police officers were hurt, including two with serious injuries.—Agencies