ALGIERS, January 09:Several Algerian towns that had experienced days of rioting were returning to normal today, local people said,after a flare-up of unrest triggered by a sharp rise in food prices.
There were no reports of large-scale disturbances overnight,the first night of relative calm since rioting broke out onWednesday in the capital and then spread to several citiesacross the energy exporting country.
In its first response to the protests, in which two peoplewere killed, the government said yesterday it would cut thecost of some foodstuffs, and promised to do whatever isnecessary to protect Algerians from rising food prices.
Dozens of municipal employees in the town of Bou Ismail, west of the capital Algiers, were early today clearing streets ofstones and burned tyres left by protesters, a Reuters reporter in the town said.
One man was killed in clashes in the town, on Algeria’s Mediterranean coast, on Friday night.
Calm also returned to neighbourhoods in Algiers, where on previous nights crowds of young men had thrown projectiles at police and also ransacked shops and other buildings.
Many traders had boarded up their stores since the unrest started.
The shops are open. Everything here is normal today. I hope we will spend a quiet night,” said a resident in the working class Bab El Oued neighbourhood in Algiers, where some of the most violent clashes took place.
Measures announced by the government yesterday include a suspension of customs duties and value added tax on imports of sugar and cooking oil, whose soaring prices triggered the unrest.
—————Reuters