Rare protests in northern Algeria over severe water shortage

Protesters filled the streets in the Tiaret region of northen Algeria Monday for second consecutive day, in rare demonstrations of the severe lack of drinking water, according to AFP citing local reports on social media. 

Faced with the issue in the lead-up to early elections in September, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had vowed to address the issue by the Eid al-Adha holiday which began Sunday. Multiple social media accounts said demonstrations erupted and roads were blocked in Tiaret, southwest of the capital Algiers, from the start of the holiday. Images shared on social media showed at least two roads connecting Tiaret to neighbouring towns blocked by rocks and improvised barricades.

However neither official and nor private domestic media covered the protests at all.

Since May, all the tributaries of the semi-desert region and its Bakhedda dam have run dry. Protests broke out at the start of June in Tiaret, with demonstrators burning tyres and blocking roads, according to social media posts.