Security forces fired tear gas in Tataouine, Tunisia on Sunday to disperse protesters demanding jobs and the release of an activist who threw stones at them and blocked roads with burning tires.
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For weeks, a protest movement has been underway in the governorate of Tataouine (south), where protesters have erected tents in several regions and blocked the road to trucks belonging to oil and gas companies located on the El Kamour site, 160 kilometers further, in the middle of the desert. The demonstrators are demanding the application of an agreement, concluded after months of sit-ins and clashes in 2017, providing for the employment in these companies of thousands of unemployed people in this marginalized region.
It was the arrest on Saturday evening of an activist "wanted by justice" that sparked the clashes on Sunday, said the governor of Tataouine, Adel Werghi, on a local radio. This is Tarek Haddad, spokesperson for sit-in coordination.
Protesters blocked roads with burning tires and threw stones at law enforcement who responded with tear gas in the town of Tataouine (500 km south of Tunis), AFP correspondent said. on the spot. The situation remained very tense in the city in the evening with intermittent clashes.
Interior group press release, group of people "tried to attack police stations with Molotov cocktails, prompting law enforcement to defend their posts using all legal means " . Ten of these people were arrested, he added. “For over a month, roads have been closed and sit-in tents have been set up in the middle of the streets. This is illegal, " said Governor Werghi.
The 2017 agreement, favored by mediation by the powerful trade union center UGTT, also provides that the state invests 80 million dinars (some 27 million euros) each year in the Tataouine region. What has not been done.
The UGTT branch in Tataouine called in a statement for "a general strike" on Monday in the region and said its "refusal to use excessive and unjustified force" against the demonstrators. On Saturday, the union estimated that "the government has once again failed in its promises and lost the confidence" of the residents.
The demonstrations take place in the midst of political turmoil in Tunisia and the economic and social repercussions of the Covid-19 epidemic even if the country has managed to contain it.
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