Wave of rioting sweeps Algeria

THE DISPOSSESSED people of Algeria are rising up against the spiralling cost of food.

Reports the Magharebia website: "In what many say is the largest wave of protests in more than two decades, thousands of unemployed youths have taken to the streets of Algeria to unleash their anger.

"Widespread unrest continued to rock Algeria on Sunday (January 9th) as protests continued against rising food prices despite government action to stem the riots.

"The Algerian cabinet agreed on Saturday to lower the custom duties and taxes on sugar and other food stuffs by 41% as a temporary act to cut prices. But the measure, which will last through the end of August, did not end days of conflict in the streets between angry youth and security services."

Interior Minister Daho Ould Kabila said that more than 1,000 young people were arrested and three killed. The minister also said 736 security officers and 53 demonstrators were wounded in the violent clashes.

The first demonstrations broke out Tuesday night in the westerns suburbs of Algiers. The riots began growing in intensity on Wednesday, with protests in Oran, the country's second largest city. Later on Wednesday evening, the unrest spread to the working-class district of Bab El Oued in central Algiers. This set the scene, and one by one, the other working-class districts of the capital followed suit.

By Thursday evening, riots had broken out in a total of 24 of the country's 48 wilayas, reports the site.

"I was born in the slum, I grew up with promises of being re-housed in decent accommodation," 19-year-old Mohamed told Magharebia. "Nothing, no job, no training, just pick-pocketing and unofficial odd jobs. The state did nothing for me, and this is my way of revenge for that state that ignored me."

Protests after cop kills six year old

PROTESTS are being held in Greece after a motorcycle cop mowed down and killed a six year old girl.

From the Greek Streets reports: "A policeman of the DIAS motorcycle police ran over a 6-year old roma girl in the area of Menidi in NE Athens.

"According to eye-witnesses, the six-year old girl was run over as she was on the streets, where she was signing the carols with other children (in Greece, children sing carols on the eve of the Epiphany day, Jan 6).

"The eye-witnesses also claim the policeman dragged the girl along for 150 meters and did not stop to offer any help.

"Around 100 people gathered at the spot of the assassination and attacked the riot police once the news of the girl’s death broke out."

The blog says the cop was released pending the police investigation and "in response to the killing and immunity offered to the policeman, an impromptu anarchist demonstration was held in the Northern city of Thessaloniki".

More protests were held on Thursday and others are planned for Friday.

Police cars and court torched in Jordan

RIOTERS in the town of Maan in southern Jordan set fire to government buildings and police cars.

The protest against the killing of two men this week prompted the state to send security forces to the area to restore its control, reports Reuters.

Witnesses said hundreds of rioters angry at the authorities' failure to arrest the culprits behind Monday's killings spilt on to the streets of the desert town, setting a court building alight and damaging businesses.

"They hurled stones and burnt tyres in the main streets of the city. Other groups of rampaging masked youths burnt the local court," said one witness, Ibrahim Kreishan.

Security officials confirmed troubles had erupted and tear gas was used to disperse hundreds of people who had attacked government property and damaged private shops, added the report.

Maan is a tribal stronghold of over 40,000 people about 250 km (156 miles) south of the capital Amman, which is known for its defiance of central authority.

Naxalite rebels have upper hand

NAXALITE rebels are winning their war against the corrupt Indian state, a senior minister has admitted.

Reports the Indian Express: "A total of 713 civilians were killed by Naxalite groups in 2010, as compared to 591 the previous year, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Tuesday while presenting a monthly report card.

"The Naxalite groups also enjoyed the upper hand vis-a-vis the security forces in terms of the number of people lost in the battle.

"The security forces lost 285 personnel, as compared to 317 in 2009 while the casualties on the Naxalites’ side was only 171, again significantly less than 219 in the previous year."

The report quotes him as adding: "It will be apparent that the Naxalites have not only spurned the offer of talks but have also escalated the conflict."

The Naxalite insurgency is a vast movement of the poor and landless in rural India against the rich capitalist elite.

The grassroots rebellion, which embraces tribal peoples in remote areas, continues to grow despite massive and brutal repression.

Resistance, repression and real democracy

DEMOCRACY needs to be vigorously reclaimed for the interests of ordinary people, a Cambridge University academic has warned.

In a hard-hitting piece in The Guardian, Priyamvada Gopal writes: "Like everything else once held as a resource in common – schools, industries, utilities, woodlands, libraries and universities – democracy is turning into a feature of, for and by the market.

"The principle of bestowing citizens with the means to control their lives is reduced to rhetorical pieties about 'empowering' communities when local government funding is savagely cut.

"When real democratic expression from below does emerge, it is met with alarm and threats.

"Victorian broadsheet denunciations of the 'dangerous sentiments of the Democracy' were echoed in some media descriptions of recent anti-cuts protests as 'mob rule'.

"There's talk of banning student demonstrations on policing grounds. Union action to represent working people invites red-baiting, experienced most recently by Len McCluskey, who called for widespread resistance to austerity measures.

"The 'kettling' recently faced by protesters outside parliament aptly symbolises current attempts to contain democracy and empty it of its real content – the interests of ordinary people.

"Only if it can be reclaimed by vigorously asserting the prior claims of we, the people, to the commons – our public spaces, our economic rights, our political processes and our shared resources – will demos (people) kratos (power) win the day."

Dubai labour camp workers rise up

WORKERS in a giant labour camp at Al Quoz in Dubai have rioted against poor living conditions and treatment by security guards.

One report said an official from Jams HR Solutions, the firm that runs the camp, had described the damage as "huge" with at least 40 buses destroyed and furniture and windows smashed.

It said work protests are unusual in Dubai despite growing complaints of pay shortfalls since Dubai's economic slump last year.

However, in March 2007, labourers from Al Quoz rioted, as part of a larger 8,000 strong protest against contracting companies, demanding better living conditions and wage increases.

The Al Quoz camp is home to about 3,000 Nepali and Indian workers and the latest incident apparently occurred after an assault by Arab security guards, several of whom have now been arrested.

Sanjay Verma, the Indian consul general in Dubai, was quoted by The National as saying the root causes were "dissatisfaction with living conditions, security-related issues and food supply."

Officials at Jams HR Solutions refused to comment to media about the camp uprising.

The company provides offices in Dubai and the Jebel Ali Free Zone with various manpower services including domestic, cleaning and stevedoring.

Angry prisoners torch English jail

ANGRY prisoners have torched a jail in southern England.

Reports Sky News: "Six accomodation blocks at an open prison have been destroyed after inmates went on the rampage and started fires - allegedly over attempts to breathalyse them.

"The riot, at HMP Ford near Arundel, West Sussex, began at around midnight.

"It involved around 40 prisoners wearing balaclavas to protect their identities who smashed windows and activated fire alarms.

"The inmates, led by men from B wing, set alight five blocks in the morning, with another three on fire by noon.

"Staff were forced to retreat and specialist control and restraint teams and fire fighters were called in.

"The riot was triggered after some prisoners refused to be breathalysed for alcohol, according to Mark Freeman, deputy general secretary of the Prison Officers Association.

"Mr Freeman said a large amount of alcohol had been found in the jail and staff had been trying to get inmates to take a breath test for several days.

"Sky News reporter Jane Dougall, at the scene, said plumes of smoke could be seen above the prison all morning.

"She said the fires had destroyed six accomodation blocks, a mail room, a gym, a snooker room and a pool room with 10 new tables.

"The loss of the accomodation means about 160 inmates will have to be moved to other jails.

"A Prison Service spokesman said: 'We can confirm that around 140 additional prison service staff have arrived at Ford to support the local staff in bringing the prison under full control'."