Annaba, February 11: A young Algerian man set himself alight to protest against the “disdain” shown by police after a complaint over a beating was ignored, a police official said Wednesday.
The 25-year-old, from the town of Chrea close to the province of Tebessa, the scene of unrest and several similar public suicides, had lodged a complaint to police after he was beaten and injured by a town resident.
When police did not “immediately” take up his case, the man, out of desperation, sprayed petrol on himself and lit it in front of the town’s police headquarters on Tuesday.
He narrowly escaped death but his upper body was badly burnt. He was later hospitalised but his condition is stable, a medical staff said.
A dozen Algerians have set themselves on fire since January, among whom three have died, inspired by the self-immolation of a young Tunisian that ended in the downfall of that country’s authoritarian regime.
–Agencies