Algeria : angry families ill-treat and beat census-takers

The general census of the population and housing, which kicked off on April 16th in Algeria , is not going on smoothly as expected.

As a matter of fact, census-takers in various regions of the country met with the intransigence of many Algerian families who bluntly refused to receive them, let alone to reply to their questions and queries.

According to well informed sources, several census-takers were molested and roughed up by families who wanted to vent their anger at what they called the gross injustice and the scorn shown at their daily concerns by the services of the administration.

The same sources also indicated that these disgruntled families, who roughly drove back the census-takers from their doorstep, believe that the eventual information to the Administration’s questionnaires on their family situation would not be shrouded in secrecy as claimed and could be used for untoward or devious purposes, as they put it.