Riots raged throughout the weekend in Kabylie and elsewhere in Algeria's northeast, press reports said Monday, as ethnic Berber resentment over social conditions continued to boil over into anger against the central government.
The rioting, marked by running battles between youths and riot police, was centered in the two main Kabylie cities of Bejaia et Tizi Ouzou, several newspapers reported.
In Bejaia, 250 kilometers (156 miles) east of Algiers, extensive damage was caused when a number of public buildings were torched or ransacked. The telephone exchange was also destroyed, cutting communication to the city.
Residents intervened to persuade the rioters not to attack private property, reports said.
In Tizi Ouzou, the capital of the Berber homeland, rioting which started afresh after a massive Berber-led protest march in Algiers last Thursday, continued unabated through the weekend, the newspapers said.
In a rare occurrence, the reports added, paramilitary gendarmes joined anti-riot police in clashes with rioting youths in Tizi Ouzou, some 110 kilometers (68 miles) east of the capital.
The rioters are demanding the expulsion from Kabylie of all gendarmes, whom they blame for the death in custody at Beni Douala, near Tizi Ouzou, of a local student in April -- the incident that sparked the ongoing unrest.
Protests linked to the killing have mushroomed into general anger over poor social conditions, high unemployment and limited housing, and have spread beyond the borders of Kabylie.
Other towns and villages affected by weekend rioting, the reports said, were Azazga, Mekla, Larbaa Nath Irathen and Haizer.
Outside of Kabylie, rioting swept through towns in the Tebessa region in the extreme east of Algeria. At least 10 people were injured at M'Sila, some 530 kilometers (330 miles) east of Algiers, one report said, without giving details.
Clashes also occurred in the northeastern towns of Guelma, Batna, the port of Annaba and at El Tarf.
In Annaba, inhabitants took on bands of plunderers who fought among themselves to share their spoils, according to the Oran daily.
On Saturday, a young demonstrator was killed during the looting of a shop in Annaba, some 600 kilometers (360 miles) east of Algiers.
Anti-government protests have been swelling across Algeria in the last two months, culminating in Thursday's march in Algiers, which drew almost a million people, Berbers and mainstream Arabs alike.
Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni has made a personal plea for the "suspension of all marches" in Algeria, saying that demonstrators had been caught "red-handed" looting shops – ALGIERS (AFP)
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