[Maghrebia] Algerian civilians protesting the terrorist abduction of an 80-year-old villager are expected to bring the Tizi-Ouzou town of Boghni to a standstill with a general strike on Thursday (April 15th), Tout sur l'Algerie reported. On March 30th, less than a week after the kidnapping, thousands of Tizi-Ouzou residents staged a protest in Aït Koufi to demand the elderly victim's "immediate and unconditional release". The villagers have refused to pay a 30m-dinar ransom. They have also organised a hunt for the kidnappers in the Tala Guilef area.
A similar citizen protest occurred in the same region last fall. When some 20 members of al-Qaeda's El Ansar brigade kidnapped a hotel owner in Tizi-Ouzou province, villagers and his family refused to comply with ransom demands. The terrorists eventually released the victim following negotiations with the Tigzirt imam.
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