Echoing the Tunisian’s self-immolation, the Algerian Mohsen Bouterfif set himself on fire Saturday at a government building protesting unemployment.

Few weeks after a Tunisian man had set himself alight in protest of unemployment and high food prices sparking mass demonstrations that toppled Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, a spate of attempted suicides took place in the neighboring Algeria.

Echoing the Tunisian’s self-immolation, the Algerian Mohsen Bouterfif set himself on fire Saturday at a government building protesting unemployment.
Bouterfif had died Sunday of his burns after he set himself alight in front of the town hall in Boukhadra, east of Tebessa.

He was part of a group of 20 youths who had gathered in front of the townhall to protest the mayor's refusal to meet them over jobs and housing, according to residents.
About 100 young men protested over Mohsen's death in the town, in Tebessa province, 700 km east of Algiers. The governor of the province sacked the mayor, the daily El Khabar said nad AFP news agency quoted residents as saying.

Tunisia has been hit by similar attempted suicide since December 17, when 26-year-old university graduate Mohamed Bouaziz torched himself after he was prevented by police from selling fruit and vegetables to make a living.
Bouaziz died in hospital after about two weeks of the incident. His suicide attempt sparked mass protest in Tunisia for weeks, forcing Ben Ali, who had been Tunisia’s president since 1987, to fled the country to Saudi Arabia on Friday.

In another incident in Algeria, police intervened Sunday to put out the flames as a 34-year-old man, also jobless, tried to set himself on fire outside the headquarters of the domestic intelligence agency for the department of Mostaganem, some 355 kilometers east of Algiers, the APS news agency.

In yet another case, a 27-year-old man also torched himself Friday evening in front of a police station in Jijel outside of Algiers, according to the daily El Watan, although the reasons for his action were unclear.
The victim, Said. H, appeared at the police station with his chest and upper body in flames, but police rapidly put out the fire with an extinguisher, it said. The man, who suffered second-degree burns, was admitted to a hospital.

Elsewhere, a man in his forties on Wednesday also set himself ablaze in Bordj Menaiel in the Boumerdes region near the Algerian capital, according to the El Watan.
Desperate over not being listed to receive housing benefits, the father of six doused himself with gasoline and set it alight, but a town official intervened to stop the fire, the daily said.
The man was hospitalized but his life is not in danger, it added.

Several Algerian towns, including the capital Algiers, have experienced riots in recent weeks over unemployment and a sharp rise in the prices of food staples.
Official sources say two people have been killed and scores were injured during the unrest, which unfolded in parallel to street violence in Tunisia and demonstrations over high food prices in other North African and Middle Eastern countries.