ALGIERS, Jan 5: Lawmakers from Algeria's divided ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) on Monday demanded the resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, calling him a threat to stability and an insult to people's dignity in the north African country.

The FLN lawmakers issued a statement calling on the president to stand down "because he represents a threat to the stability of our country, a danger to public order and security, and an insult to the dignity of the Algerian people and the sovereignty of elected assemblies."

Their call for the president to go came a day after police broke up an anti-Bouteflika demonstration outside parliament amid a widening rift within the FLN as presidential elections loom in April.

"The FLN parliamentary group expresses its indignation at the abusive and inappropriate use of repressive means, the sole objective of which is to still the voice of the people's elected representatives," the statement said.

The deployment of riot police in Algiers "again proves the determination of the powers that be to oppress freedoms, undermine democracy and the political pluralism which the Algerian people fought for tooth and nail."

During the protest, the demonstrators shouted support for Benflis, called for a "Free and Democratic Algeria" and chanted anti-Bouteflika slogans, calling the president a "dictator" and a ""traitor" as the riot police and a few passers-by looked on.

Benflis has announced his candidacy in the April polls, while Bouteflika has not yet said whether he will seek re-election. The party congress last March had also broadened Benflis' powers while dropping its backing of Bouteflika, whom the FLN had propelled to power in 1999, in polls marred by the 11th-hour withdrawal of six other candidates alleging massive fraud.

The president sacked Benflis as head of government eight months ago, sparking the rift in the FLN, which led Algeria's 1954-62 war of independence from France, pitting Bouteflika's backers against those of his former right-hand man.-AFP