Algeria: Two police officers injured In clashes in Ghardaia

Algiers – Two policemen were injured Sunday in resumption of intercommunal clashes in the city of Ghardaia (600 km south of Algiers) after several months of calm, said an official source.

The clashes erupted when young Theiniet of El Makhzen district in the center of the city “provoked by insults and throwing stones” to the Algerian security forces deployed on site who responded by using tear gas, indicates the news agency APS.

Dozens of young people who are in solidarity with their colleagues threw stones and Molotov cocktails at police, the source added, letting them know that this followed the closure of all shops and traffic disruption and road traffic, has created a climate of insecurity and fear among the population of the district, the source added.

The Algerian wilaya of Ghardaia is the scene of recurring violence between Mozabite Berber community, Ibadi sect, and that of Chaâmbas Arabic Maliki.

The incessant appeals for calm by different actors and displacement in situ of the highest state officials have failed so far to normalize the situation, since after each period of calm, usually short, clashes started again, installing a sense of panic and insecurity among the inhabitants of the capital of the M’Zab Valley.