Demonstrations against the high cost of living continues in Algeria

The riots started in Algeria by groups of young people against the high cost of living have expanded Thursday night and have won without violence was reported victim, according to numerous witnesses and the press. Many neighborhoods of Algiers have been affected by the riots on Thursday in the center and the periphery, leading many businesses to drop their shutters early in the afternoon and the city was empty of cars in the early evening but packed with young people.

The upscale neighborhood of El Biar located on the heights was attacked by about forty youths armed with swords who have tackled many shops in the early evening, reporters found. They ransacked a restaurant and an empty jewelry, carrying a large loot by the locals, before finding themselves surrounded by security forces.

The neighborhood of Bab el Oued knew for the second consecutive night of important events. The police came heavily armed and in number at the end of the afternoon in this heavily populated area, has used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators, according to a witness. In the early evening in this neighborhood traditionally at the forefront of events, small groups were positioned in many places facing police officers armed with batons and automatic weapons.

But by mid-evening, no shots had been heard. To the east of Algiers, towards the airport, tram shelters still under construction have been ransacked. In the area known as the Banana, during a face-to-face with police, protesters threw stones against the police officers to prevent them from crossing a bridge.

These officers were, in the words of one of them, go lend a hand to their colleagues who were defending against the nearby shopping rampages. In the eastern district of Belcourt, a poor area with houses half destroyed and very densely populated, tires burned in crowded streets where few cars ventured.

A little further up the hills, a witness reported seeing a second Renault garage on fire, just like the one Wednesday night located in Bab el Oued. The website of the Consulate of France recommended in the evening the utmost vigilance to its approximately 23,000 citizens of the wilaya of Algiers.

In Kabylia, in Bejaia, about 260 km east of Algiers, as in Boumerdes, closer to the capital, the protesters had the afternoon off main roads with trees partly or burning tires . According to a witness, the court Akbou near Bejaia was burned late in the day. A little farther to the Tunisian border to Annaba, the security forces are built, particularly around the office of the wilaya (province) but the situation was calm.

However, the challenge has won several neighborhoods of Constantine, the great metropolis of eastern Algeria, in the early evening, where demonstrators have cut several roads with burning tires, said one resident.

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