Police deployed amid Algeria riots

Fresh riots erupt overnight following days of protests over rising prices and unemployment in Algeria.

Middle East Online

By Beatrice Khadige - ALGIERS

Anger at a spike in costs of basic food, unemployment, lack of social housing Police deployed outside mosques and a university in the Algerian capital Friday after fresh rioting erupted overnight following days of protests over rising prices and unemployment. About 40 youths armed with swords attacked several shops in the city's El Biar area late Thursday, looting a restaurant and emptying a jewellery store before security forces arrived, local reporters and witnesses said. There was a second night of clashes in the volatile Bab el Oued suburb, with police firing tear gas to disperse demonstrators, a witness said. One witness said youths had hurled Molotov cocktails and another said they carried swords. Police positioned around mosques in Bab el Oued, Belcourt and Bachjarrah, poorer areas of the city, in case of more unrest after Friday prayers, according to reporters on the scene. There was also extra security at a police station, a new shopping mall and a major hotel in an area near Bab Ezzouar airport, while a nearby university was surrounded by security forces. Travellers said a road between the capital and eastern suburbs on the coast had been blocked since Thursday afternoon after youths set up barricades, also clashing with security forces. Authorities cleaned up the debris Friday after the overnight unrest in Algiers, removing damaged cars at dawn, a journalist said. In the Annacer-Diar el Afia suburb, a Renault-Dacia car dealership showed signs of fire and residents said a public bus was also torched, although only burn marks on the road were visible by morning. "Why are they doing this?" an elderly woman asked. "Yesterday I cried at home. Young people have a reason but they shouldn't be reacting like this," she said. Protests led by small groups of young men have flared in several towns this week, linked to anger about a spike in the costs of basic food items by about 30 percent this month, unemployment and a lack of social housing. El-Watan newspaper reported that several people had been wounded in the Algerian clashes, but the official media has made no comment and authorities have only assured that they are tackling the spike in costs. Commerce Minister Mustapha Benbada said after meeting with producers and importers of cooking oil and sugar -- which have seen the steepest price hikes -- that his ministry "is beginning to control the crisis" and it would be resolved by next week, national radio reported Thursday. About 75 percent of Algerians are under the age of 30, and 20 percent of the youth are unemployed, according to the International Monetary Fund.