, 30 people were injured and
buildings ransacked after a local man set himself on fire.
On Feb. 5, residents burned down the local government
headquarters in a village near Boumerdes, east of the capital,
because heavy snow left them with no electricity.
The protests have not come together into any kind of
national movement, and the protesters do not appear to have a
political agenda beyond railing against local bureaucrats.
But Abdou Bendjoudi, a 27-year-old opposition activist in
the capital, thinks it is just a matter of time before that
changes and Algeria stages its own "Arab Spring".
He says people have lost faith in a government that has
failed to provide real jobs and opportunities for young people
or to deliver decent public services.
"There is not a single province where there are not daily
protests," Bendjoudi, one of the leaders of a group called the
Movement of Independent Youth for Change, said in a cafe. "It is
a political message. People are saying they have had enough of
the catastrophic management of the country.
"If the authorities do not move now towards democracy, it
will be too late."
(Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
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