ALGERIA: New violent protests against food price hikes and unemployment break out in the capital Algiers

Record ID: 573997

  • Title: ALGERIA: New violent protests against food price hikes and unemployment break out in the capital Algiers
  • Date: 8th January 2011
  • Summary: TEAR GAS IN STREET MOLOTOV COCKTAIL IN STREET POLICE VAN BACKS DOWN ROAD AS PROTESTERS ADVANCE ARMOURED POLICE VEHICLE DRIVES DOWN ROAD ARMOURED POLICE VEHICLE IN STREET NEAR CLOUD OF TEAR GAS
  • Embargoed: 23rd January 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Algeria, Algeria
  • Country: Algeria
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3L890U96C4YX7A66FW64JHH9P
  • Story Text: Fresh rioting broke out in Algiers on Friday (January 7) as beefed up police forces clashed with youths protesting over food prices and unemployment.
    Riot police armed with tear gas launchers and batons maintained a strong presence around the Algerian capital's main mosques and streets.
    In the popular Belcourt district of the capital, rioting resumed after Friday prayers. Young protesters pelted police with stones and blocked access to the area.
    The official APS news agency said protesters ransacked government buildings, bank branches and post offices in "several eastern cities" overnight, including Constantine, and in Jijel, Setif and Bouira.
    Hundreds of youths clashed with police in several Algerian cities earlier this week, and ransacked stores in the capital.
    On Wednesday, riot police used tear gas to disperse youths in the Algiers neighbourhood of Bab el-Oued, where the most violent of the protests occurred.
    Analysts say the riots are still far from dragging the oil- and gas-producing nation back to the sort of political upheaval of the 1990s that caused 10 years of civil strife.
    The cost of flour and salad oil has doubled in the past few months, reaching record highs, and 1 kg of sugar, which a few months ago cost 70 dinars (17 pence), is now 150 dinars.
    Unemployment stands at about 10 percent, the government says. Independent organisations put it closer to 25 percent. Official data put inflation at 4.2 percent in November, having peaked at 5.1 percent in July, 2010 and after recording 5.7 percent in 2009.
    The riots, which are more intense than the periodic outbreaks of unrest the country of 35 million has grown accustomed to, put authorities under pressure to deliver economic results that reflect strengthening state revenues from energy exports.
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