TUNISIAN police fired tear gas at protesters in a suburb of the capital and in towns across Sfax governorate on Thursday, as anger over deaths linked to the security forces erupted in street clashes.
In Ettadhamen, on the outskirts of Tunis, protesters blocked roads, burned tyres and threw stones after the death of a man detained on suspicion of drug dealing.
His family said he died as a result of police violence after his arrest and demanded that the circumstances be made clear and those responsible held to account.
Police fired tear gas as they moved to secure a National Guard station in the area, and the interior ministry was not available for comment.
In Jebiniana, in Sfax governorate, clashes broke out after the death of a young man whose relatives said he died while being chased by security forces.
Protesters set a police vehicle ablaze, burned tyres and demanded an end to repeated abuses by the security forces against local residents. Police again used tear gas, and similar clashes were reported in nearby Agareb.
In the city of Sfax, students protested over the death of a female student who suffered a cardiac problem. Her fellow students said ambulance crews took too long to arrive, citing a lack of medical facilities on campus, and called for a strike at Sfax University’s faculties yesterday.
The clashes come amid a deepening economic, social and political crisis, with recurring water and electricity cuts, shortages of medicines and other essentials, and rising prices eroding purchasing power.
Last Saturday, thousands marched along Habib Bourguiba Avenue in central Tunis in the largest protest against President Kais Saied in years, led by the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) alongside opposition parties and civil society groups. AFP counted more than 3,000 people.
They demanded the release of jailed government critics and an end to restrictions on trade union rights, carrying placards reading ‘No democracy without freedoms’ and ‘No dignity with poverty’.
UGTT Secretary-General Salah Eddine Salmi attacked the concentration of power in the presidency, saying ‘silence will no longer be acceptable’.
President Saied suspended parliament and dismissed the government in 2021, later dissolving parliament, ruling by decree and pushing through a 2022 constitution that expanded his powers.
Opponents call it a coup. Many opposition leaders, activists and journalists are in prison.
On Wednesday, a military court sentenced Olfa Hamdi, leader of the Third Republic Party, to four years in prison for plotting against state security and inciting the military to disobey orders.
Her lawyer, Akram Moussa, said the sentence comprised two two-year terms and fines of 80,000 dinars. Hamdi, who holds US citizenship and had called for a transitional government and early presidential elections, was detained at Tunis airport in February and was sentenced to two years in a separate case in March.
