Districts near the Tunisian capital, today, Monday, witnessed protests to demand financial and food aid in light of the continued general quarantine in the country to prevent the emerging Corona virus (Covid 19).
Protesters cut a main road in the Al-Maniala district, west of the capital, and burned rubber wheels. As families gathered in front of the delegation’s headquarters in the region to demand food and financial aid.
The government has pledged to disburse financial aid at the end of this month for poor families as economic activities decline due to the general quarantine.
Families are also gathering in front of post offices in several other areas of the country in anticipation of disbursement of financial aid.
The same scene of the protests was repeated in a main street in the Al-Tadamun neighborhood, the largest popular neighborhood in Tunisia, as protesters blocked the road because of the authorities' decision to prevent mobile vehicles from selling their goods, which is the basic activity of many families and the unemployed.
The state of congestion has increased today with the scarcity of basic commodities and vegetables in most markets, due to the Ministry of Commerce's announcement earlier that the work of the main markets equipped with these commodities was reduced to only three days per week, which caused the spread of monopoly and high prices.
However, the Ministry retracted today, in a statement, from its decision to resume supply operations on a daily basis.
The government has set public quarantine until April 4, including stopping lessons and cutting down on public work in the private and public sectors, but the decision is likely to be strongly extended as the threat of a virus outbreak that has claimed thousands of lives worldwide remains strong.
As of the 27th of this month, more than 200 cases of Coronavirus and six deaths have been recorded.