Twenty-nine people were killed Saturday in a fresh wave of rioting in Algeria's northeastern Kabylie region, sources in the region said, bringing the death toll from a week of unrest to at least 45.
Tens of thousands of youths resumed their angry demonstrations -- sparked by the death of a teenager in police custody -- in the mainly ethnic Berber region, despite opposition appeals for calm and fears of more bloodshed.
By late Saturday, the toll from the day's unrest, which saw stone-throwing youths clash with heavily-armed riot police, stood at 29 dead and brought to at least 45 the number of people killed in disturbances since last Sunday.
Sources said 27 of Saturday's victims died in clashes around Tizi Ouzou, situated 110 kilometers (65 miles) east of Algiers. Two were also killed Bejaia district, 140 kilometers further east.
Witnesses and press reports put the week's death toll, with the 29 killed Saturday, at around 45, with hundreds injured. Late on Friday and before Saturday's clashes, the official death toll stood at 16.
No official confirmation of Saturday's toll was immediately available.
Witnesses saw mainly youngsters hurling stones at riot police using teargas in the main Kabylie towns of Tizi Ouzou and Bejaia.
Tizi Ouzou is regarded as the capital of Algeria's Berber people, who were in the north African country long before it was invaded by the Arabs.
The Berbers prefer to go by the name of the Imazighen, and make up about a third of Algeria's population. They are strongly attached to their own culture, and want their language, Tamazight, put on a par with Arabic.
The Kabylie region has since the early 1980s been a hotbed of militant activity for a democratic, multiparty state.
The unrest has also coincided with the 21st anniversary of the "Berber Spring" of 1980, when authorities cracked down on demonstrations in Kabylie demanding formal recognition of the Berber language and culture.
However, their main concerns at present are social, arising from mass unemployment and housing shortages.
The current violence was triggered after a teenager in police custody was shot dead a week ago, and three other youths were manhandled for shouting anti-government slogans at police.
The Algerian government has insisted that it has been left with no choice but to open fire on some protestors.
"In all the cases resulting in loss of human life, the members of the security services were cornered and forced to preserve the safety of people and property faced with demonstrators who were out of control," Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni said in a statement.
After Friday's killing of 15 people, the opposition Socialist Forces Front (FFS) called off a rally, warning "the circles of power are seeking to take advantage" of marches "to transform them into a bloodbath."
But despite calls for an end to the riots, trouble erupted in Bejaia on Saturday after people initially turned out for a peaceful demonstration in the town center, witnesses said.
Police maintained a discreet presence until a lorry was set on fire just outside a police post and the security forces went into action.
In Tizi Ouzou, clashes began early Saturday. Witnesses said protestors were passing round handkerchiefs soaked in vinegar to cope with clouds of teargas.
Saturday's trouble led shopkeepers to close their shutters, while many roadsigns and streetlamps were defaced or smashed by protestors.
The FFS is strongly rooted in the region, and was the only party apart from the now outlawed Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) and the once all-powerful National Liberation Front (FLN) to win seats in the first round of general elections held in December 1991.
The certainty that the FIS would sweep the board in the second round a month later led to military intervention to call off the poll. Subsequent violence by Islamic insurgents has claimed at least 100,000 lives.
Berber activists are as strongly opposed to Muslim fundamentalist leaders as they are to what they see as the repression of their language and culture by the secular authorities – ALGIERS (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
