Algeria: Riots over high food prices

  1. Posted on Friday 7 January 2011 - 09:43
    KingsleyKobo
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    Kingsley Kobo, AfricaNews reporter in Abidjan, Ivory Coast
    Hundreds of unemployed Algerian youths took to the streets on Thursday to protest against galloping unemployment and inflation, burning government buildings and clashing with police across several cities including the capital Algiers. The riots began on Wednesday after evening Muslim prayers, following the price hikes for milk, sugar and flour which the population had endured in recent days.
    Algeria: Riots over high food prices
    A police station, a Renault car dealership and other buildings were set ablaze. Police with tear gas fired back at stone-throwing youths, who were calling for equitable distribution of the wealth from the country’s abundant gas-and-oil resources, AP reported.

    Violence continued Thursday across the country, with youths chanting “Bring Us Sugar”, and setting tires on fire and throwing stones at police. Some officers were seen rounding up suspected troublemakers, AFP said.

    Other youths tore down street signs and smashed streetlights with iron bars.
    The violence led to blocked roads and kept schoolchildren and workers from getting home. Police helicopters were seen circling over Algiers.

    Local media said the unrest followed weeks of simmering anger and small demonstrations over the lack of jobs and housing shortages.

    Algeria’s economy has been mismanaged for decades and the country was racked by political turmoil and an Islamist insurgency in the 1990s.

    The Algerian riots came as the price index of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, which tracks the wholesale cost of several agricultural commodities, including wheat, corn, rice, oilseeds, dairy products, sugar and meats, jumped to a record high.

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