by ALEX LANTIER
Police repression of mass protests in Tunisia and Algeria last week has led to the deaths of over a dozen people, with hundreds injured. There was rioting against food price increases and state subsidy cuts across Algeria, amid ongoing demonstrations in Tunisia against unemployment and the regime of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
The Algerian protests reflect deepening mass opposition to the free-market policies of the army-backed regime of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, of the National Liberation Front (FLN). Prices of essential, state-subsidized food items including flour, cooking oil, and sugar have doubled in the past few months in Algeria. World market prices are rising, and the state has tried to pass part of the price increase through to grocers and consumers.
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Squads of riot police set up roadblocks and attacked protestors in the Belcourt and Bab el-Oued districts of Algiers on Friday. Protestors sacked police stations, banks, or government offices in “several eastern cities” including Constantine, Jijel, Setif, and Bouira, according to Algeria’s official APS news agency. AFP also reported violent clashes in Oran, Algeria’s second-largest city, Annaba, and Tizi Ouzou—the main city of the ethnic-minority Kabylie region.
The government backtracked yesterday, announcing it would cut prices by slashing duties on sugar and oil by 41 percent. However, certain sources, including the web site Tout Sur l’Algérie, contested government figures, claiming the measures’ net effect would only be a 5 percent cut in food prices.
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