Ouargla: Unemployed Protesters Clash With Police, Superintendent Injured

Police Superintendent in Ouargla Povince has been slightly injured following clashes erupting with about 400 unemployed youngsters who attempted to set on fire the police station of the locality of Said Atba.

Eyewitnesses said police officers have shot real bullets in the air to disperse protesters, while the superintendent was evacuated to hospital to endure medical treatment on his injured leg.

The clashes sparked in the night of Thursday to Wednesday in Said Atba locality, in the oily and gas rich city of Ouargla.

The clashes lasted until the break of the day of Wednesday, as police used batons, teargas and shots in the air to disperse protesters, while the latter burned tires and stoned Molotov cocktails to the police station, injuring two policemen. 

The arrival of backups of law and order forces has finally permitted to bring the calm to the city, after closing all the passages leading to the city.  

Some unemployed in the Said Atba locality told Echorouk reporter that the drop that spilled the glass is the misdealing of local authorities with the case of the 15 unemployed youngsters, the majority of whom are from Said Atba locality, who started hunger-strike two weeks ago to protest the rejection of hydrocarbons companies, investing there, to hire them.

However, detectives are investigating on the parties who provoked this unrest, and likely to arrest some of the protesters later on.

To recall this same police station was a scene of a failed suicide attempt by exploding gas bottle, orchestrated by two unemployed youngsters, who are currently jailed pending trial.