Berriane : Houses laid bare, ransacked and torched by masked rioters who filmed the hideous carnage

Reporters of the newspaper “Echorouk Al Yaoumi” went Tuesday on an assignment mission to the riot-torn locality of Berriane, in Ghardaia province south of Algeria, where they saw for themselves the grim devastation provoked by the recent bloody clashes between rival groups of the Ibadite and Malekite communities.  

• The incidents are now over but a high tension is still in the air in the districts of the locality which is littered by all sorts of debris after the runaway clashes.
• Berriane is now completely sealed off by anti-riot Police and Gendarmerie forces who took position in all the hot spots of the locality to prevent a new outbreak of street violence.
• Our reporters saw the widespread damage caused by the violent incidents to many houses and businesses which were literally ransacked and burnt by masked rioters, according to various testimonies on the spot.
• These rooters who went on the rampage broke the doors of houses with pickaxes and stole jewels and other costly items before torching these devastated dwellings.
• The whole carnage was then filmed with cameras and mobile phones by the assailants who later sold the pictures to members of their own community to show their “shameful” feats.
• In a reaction, Notables of the region called on the local authorities to take drastic measures against the sale of these pictures to prevent a further exacerbation of the situation.
• According to a resident of Berriane met by Echorouk reporters, the spite between the Ibadite and Malekite communities has been worsened by acute social problems.
• This spite, he said, turned into sheer violence while regretting the fact that the nefarious troublemakers behind this spiral of violence were still at large.
• After several days of rioting, most of the shops, notably bakeries as well as  schools are still closed for fear of a resurgence of violence.
• Pupils and college students are thus compelled to stay at home on account of the lockdown.
• In a statement to “Echorouk”, the National Education Minister Aboubakr Benbouzid said that the Government was now striving to ease the tension and to find a way out of the current crisis as soon as possible through an action program providing for social assistance in various fields for the benefit of the Berriane residents.
• It should also be noted that the 2 victims killed during the latest riots, which also left tens of injured including 44 Policemen were buried on Tuesday under the watchful eye of an important security apparatus set up in the troubled locality in order to face up to any untoward contingency.