The latest victim of the current unrest in Tunisia has been named Haykel Rachdi, from Sbeitla in Kasserine, near the Algerian border. He succumbed to his injuries on Monday night after he was allegedly hit on the head by a tear gas police officer.
The protests continued on Wednesday, with police pushing back hundreds of mainly young protesters outside the country’s parliament in the capital, Tunis. One group marched there from the workers’ district of Hay Ettadhamen, in the north of the city. The protesters chanted chants of the 2010–11 winter revolution and slogans against the police, while politicians inside continued to debate whether to accept or reject a proposed new government, the fifth since the 2019 unconvincing election.
The unrest still dominates most of public life. Across Tunisia, civil society groups and people from marginalized districts are demanding economic development, an end to police brutality and the release of an estimated 1,400 people arrested. Tunisia has been plagued by political infighting and the police force has remained almost completely unreformed since the revolution, which has helped fuel its own actions.
Even before the pandemic destroyed the vital tourism industry in the country, Tunis’ economy was struggling. Unemployment – a major driver of social unrest – has gripped about 15% of the workforce nationwide, rising to 36% among 15- to 24-year-olds, a prominent demographic among those now protesting.
In Ezzahrouni, a marginalized district west of central Tunis, Nassredine described the poverty that had driven the district’s youth to violence. He did not want to give up his surname and told how he, despite his four diplomas, had not worked for two years. Instead, he was forced to rely on handouts from his mother, a pensioner. ‘When I see people migrating [to Europe] illegally, I really can not blame them, “he said,” things are getting worse. “Everywhere is now closed,” he said.
Despite being praised as one of the successes of the Arab Spring, instability has continued in Tunisia over the past decade as successive governments fail to bridge the gap between rich and poor. The latest reshuffle by the country’s coalition government has prompted the appointment of four ministers accused of corruption or conflicts of interest and were explicitly rejected by President Kais Saied. It has undermined any hope of the kind of political consensus Tunisia needs to withstand the pandemic and the systemic reforms of protesters.
According to the International Monetary Fund, the country’s already dying economy shrank by an unprecedented 8.2% in 2020. The decline was felt in Tunisia, but nowhere more than in the poor neighborhoods around Tunis and in the hardscrabble interior where, Even before the pandemic, unemployment was as high as 30%. In these areas, with the pandemic shutting down opportunities for the kind of casual day labor that kept many families going, anger erupted over the act of government, exacerbated by police violence.
Along the street, Nassredine’s comments twisted with the thoughts of four young men who had gathered in a bus shelter and shared jokes and cigarettes.
About a year and a half ago, 23-year-old Ahmed tried to leave Tunisia after saving the 7,000 Tunisian dinars (about £ 1,800) to take a boat to Europe. He was caught and returned shortly after being at sea, minus his money and losing the chance at a new life.
Aymen, a 23-year-old police officer who was off duty, showed a photo of himself masked and injured on the leg of a rock thrown during the protests. He asked to be deployed away from his own neighborhood, reluctant to confront some of his friends who took part in the unrest.
Aymen was welcome in the shelter, but the actions of other police officers across Tunisia once again drew attention to a culture of brutality and impunity that has remained unchanged since the 2010–11 revolution. Tergas and baton charges were regularly deployed against protesters, both peaceful and erratic.
The Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH) estimates that of the 1,400 protesters arrested so far, about 30% were minors. It is said that few lawyers were offered and that none of those claiming to have been beaten were medically examined.
Monday, a joint report by the online newspaper Meshkal and the blog Nawaat contains damning accusations of police violence and arbitrary arrests of the families of those now being held. In one report, the mother of a 16-year-old described how she arrived at the police station to see officers kicking her son ‘like a ball’ while questioning him.
The Interior Ministry has promised to investigate the abuse, as well as a video showing a police officer firing tear gas into a home. However, the conviction of serving officials is unlikely, supported by powerful unions.