Algeria: suspected of being an arsonist, a young man is lynched by the mob

Northern Algeria has been in the grip of violent fires since Monday, August 9.

REUTERS - ABDELAZIZ BOUMZAR

Text by: RFI Follow

3 min

While northern Algeria is still ravaged by flames and 71 people have died since the start of the week, according to the latest report, in the mountains of Kabylia, where some have lost everything, spirits are heated to white .

On Wednesday, a young man was arrested on charges of being an arsonist.

He was lynched by an angry mob in Larbaâ Nath Irathen.

An investigation has been opened.  

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With our correspondent in Tunis,

Matthias Raynal

A thin mustache and a cap with a red star on it.

The photo of Djamel Bensmaïl, alias Jimmy, is displayed everywhere on Algerian social networks, accompanied by messages of condolence.

In a video shot by local television,

he last appeared hours before his death

.

Coming from another region, he is one of those volunteers who went to help the victims of Kabylia.     

On Wednesday, suspected of having tried to light a fire, Djamel was taken into a police van.

But a raging crowd manages to extract it.

He is beaten to death and burned.   

It got out of hand.

There were people overexcited, there was anger, sadness…

 ”, confides a resident of Tizi Ouzou.

Paranoia set in, as in this inhabitant of Tizi Ouzou: “ 

Certainly, it was planned [the fires, editor's note].

But they weren't people who wanted to make fires just like that…

 ”.

This is also what the Prime Minister asserts, who denounces "

 arson 

".

The discourse of the authorities may have exacerbated the tensions.

There have been irresponsible statements from some politicians.

Young people have started looking for these arsonists

 ”, deplores Djamel Alilat, journalist from

El Watan

.   

The Algerian president announced that 22 suspected arsonists had been arrested.

The Tizi Ouzou region is the most affected by the dozens of fires that broke out last Monday.

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  • Algeria