Tax hikes trigger unrest in Algeria amid calls for calm

By Abdel Razek Abdallah

ALGIERS (AA) – Algeria’s largest human rights group has called for calm amid tension over a 2017 budget that will see taxes raised to compensate for falling oil prices.

The budget, which was announced last week, envisages raises in value-added tax, gasoline prices and duty on alcohol and tobacco.

The budget has sparked tension across the North African country, particularly in eastern Algeria, where violent protests were reported.

Calls also spread across social media websites for staging strikes in protest of the budget.

“We call on Algerians to exercise caution and avoid being dragged into plots for chaos,” the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (NGO) said in a statement on Tuesday.

It called on the Algerian government to find “urgent solutions with a view to calming the situation in the wake of the collapse of the purchase power of most Algerians”.

Algerian Interior Minister Noureddine Bedoui, for his part, described the unrest as “uncivilized” and vowed to protect public and private property, according to the state-run Algerian news agency.

“The government allocated more than $10 billion in the 2017 budget in subsidy for the citizens,” he said.

Abderrazak Makri, the leader of Movement of Society for Peace, Algeria’s biggest Islamic political party, called on the authorities to engage in dialogue on how to resolve the economic crisis in the country.

“On the other hand, everybody should know that vandalism and attacking property serves only the ruling authority,” Makri said on Facebook.

Oil is a main source of income for Algeria.