Algiers - Police attack protesting residents at overcrowded Diar El Baraka estate.

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27 December 2010 - ... The Diar El Baraka estate in Baraki, a suburb of Algiers, is angry.
The clashes between elements of riot police and local residents began yesterday, early in the morning.
"We started to scream our anger at five o'clock in the morning. The police arrived and the riots began, "said another young rioter. It is 10am. Young people set fire to tires. Police receive reinforcements. Some of their responses set fire to the powder. Young people are fuming with anger. They are ready to fight.

Police block the estate at its three entries. Stones are thrown back and forward. "It's amazing! The police attacked us with stones. We are demanding our rights. So why the crackdown? "A young rioter, his head surrounded by the Palestinian kufiya, is surprised. The police opposes ... kids. They resist for a moment. The police return to the charge. Children flee. And panic. The residents are worried about them. Finally, there was more fear than harm. The boys were not arrested. This did not quiet the minds of the rebels. "Five people were arrested and there were over 20 injuries among residents and police," said Rachid Boudina, a member of the Committee on relocation of the inhabitants of the city Diar El Baraka. The age of people arrested between 22 and 42 years.
Initial information gathered at the scene were the arrest of nine people. "There were four children who were later released," is said.
.. "Our city has more than 2,200 families crammed into 700 homes,"members [of rehousing commission] have waited for an official response from the administration. Nothing in sight. "We are waiting since last June and you see where this expectation has led us," Yesterday, a large resettlement operation was conducted by the services of the wilaya of Algiers. It affected about 1,600 families (1586) occupying slums and informal settlements.
..Elements of the police are visible on the roofs of homes that threaten to collapse. They shoot into the crowd a shower of stones. They make no distinction or age or sex. The law-enforcement and security also launched a torrent of insults on the citizens of the city. The latter responded with slogans against the government. Poverty wrote bleeding lines on the walls of dilapidated houses. Houses of two rooms contain between two and three families. ... At the entrance are grouped in families. But the number of policemen is higher than that of citizens. Among families include social housing applicants and those victims of national tragedy. "We have records of requests for housing dating from 1982. Basta! That the authorities stop lying to people, shouted one of these citizens.
Housing riots may sound the tocsin of a general social revolt. The scuffle that occurred at Baraki follows those of the estates of Palmiers, Bachdjarrah, and Glacière. Algiers is a powder keg.