MOUNTING SOCIAL DISCONTENT DRIVES LATE MAY STREET

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ALGIERS 000661

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/03/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI AG
SUBJECT: MOUNTING SOCIAL DISCONTENT DRIVES LATE MAY STREET
VIOLENCE IN ALGIERS AND ORAN

REF: ALGIERS 588

Classified By: Ambassador Robert S. Ford; reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Algeria's two biggest cities, Algiers and
Oran, suffered prolonged street violence in late May at the
hands of angry youths for whom disappointing soccer results
were the final straw that pushed them into the streets.
Parts of Algiers had to shut down each night May 20-22 due to
students fighting police. Riots in Oran May 26-29,
meanwhile, initially appeared beyond the control of the local
authorities as they struggled to enforce restrictions on
freedom of assembly. The virulence of these "soccer riots"
reflects a deeper socioeconomic discontent that our contacts
have called dangerous. They say that while the government
trumpets record oil wealth in the media, much of the 70
percent of Algeria's population under the age of 30 is
growing increasingly frustrated at not seeing any of this
wealth affect their daily lives. Nor does this perception
promote initiative and entrepreneurial spirit, several
prominent business leaders told us, as many of Algeria's
young people find themselves becoming passive, waiting for
the government to decide what to do with its wealth, if not
hand it out directly to the people. Chief among their
complaints are declining purchasing power, low salaries,
housing shortages, corruption and lack of job opportunities
that match their training and education. So, as the soccer
riots demonstrate, they wait - and frustration mounts when
they find themselves merely waiting for Godot. END SUMMARY.


SOCCER AS WAR AND POLITICS
--------------


2. (U) Angry young men, inflamed by local soccer results,
took to the streets for prolonged periods of rioting and
violence in Algiers and Oran in late May. For three days
starting May 20, Algiers witnessed riots sparked by
supporters of a local soccer team from the El Harrach
neighborhood. El Harrach was set to play a rival team from
the neighborhood of Kouba in a final match that would
determine who stayed in the first division and who would
suffer relegation. Before the final game, El Harrach
supporters distributed provocative communiques, by email and
leaflets, that were intended to intimidate, according to
local staff who saw copies. One warned of an imminent "war"
and residents of Kouba were cautioned to "put away (your)
children, old people and women" on the day of the game.
According to press reports, 5,000 police in riot gear were
deployed to protect the neighborhood of Kouba. Press reports
also stated that 80 policemen were wounded in the ensuing
riots and damage to property reached the equivalent of USD
759,000.


3. (U) The violence was not limited to Algiers. Starting May
26 a second set of soccer-inspired riots started, this time
in Oran. Oran witnessed three days of troubles after
thousands of fans reacted angrily to the Algerian Soccer
Federation's decision to relegate local team Mouloudia Oran
from Division One to Division Two. The move marked the first
time the team was bumped into the second division since the
country's national soccer championships were created in 1963.
Thousands of rioters burned cars, looted shops and forced
police to close off the center of the city. The Oran
gendarmerie prevented an Embassy delegation visiting Oran to
put the finishing touches on the new American Corner at a
local university from entering the center of town upon their
May 26 arrival. The city center remained closed for the
entire duration of their three-day visit, and contacts were
forced to come to their hotel near the airport. In one case,
on May 29 - three days after the riots began - a contact
drove to their hotel near the airport and his car was damaged
by scores of youth throwing rocks at him. Press reports
indicate extensive property damage in the center of Oran,
though the exact value of this damage is difficult to pin
down.

A RELEASE VALVE FOR SOCIOECONOMIC PRESSURE
--------------


4. (C) Labor leader Rachid Malaoui of the autonomous union

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SNAPAP told us on May 28 that dissatisfaction with the
performance of soccer teams was only an excuse to riot. The
underlying bases for the riots, he said, were the pent-up
frustrations of Algerian society. Malaoui reminded us that
under the state of emergency Algeria has been living with
since 1992, public demonstrations are not allowed. While the
riots appear to have been spontaneously triggered, he
believed that individuals had been waiting for an opportunity
to vent their elevated frustration with life in Algeria.
Prominent business leader Sami Boukaila, head of the
entrepreneurial association Club CARE, told us on May 31 that
the government was fanning the flames of discontent by
running regular triumphant newspaper headlines announcing the
latest increase in Algeria's massive oil wealth and foreign
exchange reserves. This, Boukaila said, was stunting the
development of initiative and encouraging young people to
remain "mired in socialist passivity" by simply expecting the
state to do something to distribute this wealth or somehow
change their daily lives.


5. (C) We also spoke May 28 to Haitham Rabbani, an Algerian
journalist, who works with Deutsche Welle and public radio in
the U.S. and Canada. His sentiments echoed those of Malaoui,
namely that the rioters in Algiers and Oran were using
football to vent deeper frustrations over lack of
opportunity. When people see little economic opportunity and
feel they have no political mechanism to bring about change
or voice their frustration, he said, they take to the streets
when they get a chance and football rivalries offer good
excuses. Rabbani went one step further, suggesting that what
appear to be random "background noise" clashes between
civilians and security services are not actually random at
all. He posited that the security services have become very
effective at containing a disturbance in a particular
location, using it to release social tension, while the
Algerian government has become adept at obscuring the truth
behind the clashes in order to suggest demonstrators are
simply hooligans. The government has successfully isolated
incidents and has prevented them from escalating, connecting,
and spreading into movements, in contrast to the riots of
1988, he said.


6. (C) However, Boukaila voiced a problem with Rabbani's view
that the government is able to control the riots. In
Boukaila's view, the government has been slow or unable to
control recent riots in Algiers, Oran, Chlef and Berriane
(reftel),suggesting deeper and more volatile levels of
discontent. Prominent lawyer Khaled Bourayou provided more
nuance to the situation. In a June 2 meeting, Bourayou told
us there is an enormous divide between the individuals in
power and the rest of the people, specifically young people.
Many of those in power, he continued, come from the
generation that fought for independence from France. Today's
generation, he said, is not connected to that experience.
In a country that prides itself on the presentation of
grandiose national plans, he also underscored the absence of
such a government plan for young people. Bourayou continued
to talk about youth, noting that many of them are leaving
clandestinely because of unemployment and lack of
opportunities. He opined that it is interesting to observe
that when such people are apprehended by the Algerian
authorities, they are detained and treated as criminals.
Meanwhile, between 5 and 10 percent of the population
controls the bulk of the wealth in Algeria, he maintained.

COMMENT: 1988 ON THE HORIZON?
--------------


7. (C) Many soccer fans around the world riot when their
teams are demoted to second or lower divisions, but our
contacts noted that there was "nothing normal" about the
riots in Oran that continued for three days without respite.
Prolonged street riots are still relatively rare in Algeria,
making it clear that soccer team relegation was not the
actual disease. Limits to economic opportunity, perceived
inaccessibility of hydrocarbon wealth and long-standing
limits on freedom of association have all resulted in a
continuous build-up of frustrations among the Algerian youth
demographic. Boukaila said that he and his colleagues were
wary, wondering whether the next riots would spiral out of
control, as was the case with the 1988 riots, when localized

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protests over the inaccessibility of consumer goods (Stan
Smith sneakers in Algiers, to be precise) swept across the
nation. This time it was soccer, Boukaila said, but "next
time it could be anything."
FORD