A man attempted to attack police officers outside the interior ministry in Tunis on Friday before being "
immobilized
" by rubber bullets, witnesses and police said. AFP. "
He had a knife in one hand and an ax in the other and he was running towards the entrance of the (Interior) Ministry shouting Allah Akbar
" (God is the greatest, in Arabic), said a policeman. , who was there. According to the same source, this "
extremist was seeking to attack the police officers who were in front of the ministry
". “
He was about fifty meters from the ministry, the police threw barricades on him but theman kept running and threatening police officers with his knife and ax
Said Lotfi, a witness.
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Contacted by AFP, the Interior Ministry was not yet able to give details.
A video filmed by witnesses that AFP was able to watch shows a bearded man in his thirties running towards the entrance of the ministry and panicked passers-by asking the police to shoot him.
The man was immobilized by police rubber bullets, a police officer told AFP.
He was taken to a hospital in Tunis, he added.
Following the incident, the police presence was reinforced around the ministry, AFP noted.
Since the 2011 revolution that ousted dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, and after attempts by protesters to gain access to the Interior Ministry, barricades have been erected to protect the building.
This incident comes as the country is shaken by a deep political crisis, especially after President Kais Saied's decision on July 25 to assume full powers.