Algeria vows to punish protesters

Algeria vows to punish protesters

AlJazeera
In the wake of deadly protests, the government lowers duties on basic food supplies and cracks down on rioters.

Algerian authorities have vowed to punish those responsible for nationwide food riots in which at least four people were reported killed and more than 800 injured.

Press reports on Sunday quoted Dahou Ould Kablia, interior minster, saying that troublemakers "will not go unpunished".

He said around 1,000 protestors had been arrested, many of them minors, during the weekend disturbances, adding that they would appear before judges beginning Sunday.

Out of the 826 people injured, the minister said 763 were police.

Food duties cut

The government on Saturday said it will cut taxes and import duties on some staple foods, amid a series of deadly riots that have killed at least three people.

According to state media, a meeting of ministers in the capital Algiers agreed to measures which would reduce the price of sugar and cooking oil by 41 per cent.

"Nothing can cast doubt on the resolute will of the state, under the direction of the president of the republic, to intervene whenever necessary to preserve the purchasing power of citizens in the face of any price increase," a government statement said.

Algeria has seen three days of unrest over the rising costs of living and unemployment, which government figures show standing at about 10 per cent, but which independent organisations put closer to 25 per cent.

Layachi Ansar, professor of sociology at Qatar University, told Al Jazeera that the cutting of food taxes and duties was "a superficial measure" that doesn't address "the deep crisis" going on in Algeria, connected with the "unequal distribution of wealth - this wealth is spoilt by corruption, by bad governance and lack of accountability of government officials and state civil servants".

Protesters killed
One of the three people killed was named as 18-year-old Azzedine Lebza. He was shot dead in Ain Lahdjel in the M'Sila region, 300km from Algiers, the capital.

"He died in an attempt to break into a police station," Kablia said.

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