[ad_1]
Almost 10 years after the Tunisian revolution, protests have returned to the streets by frustrated young people after years of economic stagnation, police brutality and months of closures to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Protesters marched on the outskirts of marginalized towns suffering from government neglect and widespread poverty, hunger and unemployment among young people, according to British newspaper The Guardian.
The unrest erupted on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the fall of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s regime on January 14, 2011. They continued until Monday evening to Tuesday. In the capital, hundreds of young people threw stones and Molotov cocktails at the police, widely dispersed in several popular neighborhoods, including the vast district of Al-Tadamon. Police responded with tear gas.
In Sfax, the country’s second city, demonstrators burned tires and blocked roads, according to an AFP correspondent. Clashes also took place in Gafsa, where residents were protesting against the destruction by the authorities of an unauthorized outlet.
In particular, clashes erupted in El Kef, Bizerte (north), Kasserine (center-west), Sousse and Monastir (center-east), according to local media. On Monday, the Interior Ministry announced the arrest of 632 people and the army deployed to protect some public buildings.
People are hungry
The protests were interspersed with looting, but citizens and protesters criticized Tunisian media and government attention to the looting and leaving them as the main causes of the protests.
Yassin, who works in his family’s store in the Tadamon district of the Tunisian capital, the epicenter of this year’s protests, told the Guardian: “I have been in the streets with other young people this weekend. People are hungry. They want revenge on the state. ” I’m lying about it, they want another revolution. “
Meanwhile, his friend Ahmed added: “The police dare not come here. Even Tunisian media do not come here. Nobody listens to what we say”, and explained: “All age groups . Even ten year olds are angry. Praise God. We have houses and food to eat. ” I see families of up to 10 people who cannot stand this. They don’t even have 200 millimes to buy bread. “
Yassin tells the story of a popcorn seller in the neighborhood, who was arrested by the police for not wearing a muzzle, and fined 60 Tunisian dinars. He asked them why he sells popcorn if he has 60 dinars, and Yassin said he knows the price of the mask and if he has the price, he will spend it on his children.
They stole our dreams
For his part, Tunisian journalist Fadel Ali Reda told The Independent: “There was a series of stimuli that triggered this anger. We have the feeling that there are social and economic problems that have not arisen. improved, but worsened in terms of inequalities, employment opportunities and inflation. In addition to the return of the police state, as was the case under Ben Ali. “
One protester said: “The forces that exist have stolen our dreams. We have no job and our degrees are no longer worth anything.”
Olfat Lammoum, director of the Tunis office of the non-governmental organization “International Alert” which operates in the most marginalized regions of the country, declares: “There is denial and contempt for the anger of the youth, especially more than the eleven successive governments (since the fall of Ben Ali) have not had a plan to answer the central question. Linked to employment. “
A study prepared by the NGO in 2019, before the closure, indicated that the youth unemployment rate reached 43% in Kasserine, a marginalized city in central Tunisia. Over the past year, one of five young men in the area has been arrested or jailed.
And Lamlum added: “As long as there is a purely security response accompanied by heavy arrests and no social or political response, the tension will remain.”
Divided Tunisian officials have remained silent in recent days, with many commentators and politicians describing the protesters as “delinquents”.
Source link
