Algerian media say a top Algerian businessman, Ali Haddad, has been arrested at an Algerian border post as he was apparently trying to go to Tunisia amid political crisis in the country.

Journalists at Haddad's private television channel Dzair News said he was arrested overnight in Oum Tboul, close to the Tunisian border, confirming a report from the daily El Watan.

Haddad, long a backer of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, resigned this week as head of Algeria's Business Forum, apparently trying to distance himself from the unpopular leader whose government has been accused of corruption.

Massive protests started last month to demand that the ailing, 82-year-old president resign. Bouteflika, who has been in power for 20 years, withdrew from running for a new term but cancelled Algeria's April 18 presidential election.