Hundreds of Tunisians demonstrated on Saturday January 23 in Tunis and other cities of the country to protest against police repression and to demand better social policy, after several nights of unrest marked by violence and hundreds of arrests .
These protests come as the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed many families into poverty and threatens the hospital system, with more than 400 patients in intensive care.
Tunisia had counted Thursday evening more than 6,000 deaths - with a daily record that day of 103 deaths - and 193,273 cases of contamination.
The curfew between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m., and the ban on parties and gatherings, which have been in effect since October, were extended on Saturday until February 14.
This did not prevent a hundred people from marching in Gafsa on Saturday, as in Sfax the day before, to demand the release of young people arrested during clashes between protesters and police this week.
"We must listen to young people, not send police in the thousands"
"Under the cobblestones anger" or "neither the police nor the Islamists, the people want the revolution," chanted several hundred demonstrators in Tunis.
A protester was injured during brief incidents on Avenue Bourguiba, the capital's main artery, under very high police surveillance, AFP noted.
"The youth live from day to day, we have no more hope, neither to work, nor to study and they call us troublemakers", laments Amine, graduate in aviation mechanics and employee of 'a French call center for 300 euros per month.
"We must listen to young people, not send police by the thousands. But the whole system is corrupt, a few families and their supporters share the management of Tunisian wealth," he said.
Abuse during arrests and police custody
During clashes between protesters throwing stones and the police responding with tear gas, more than 700 people according to the police - at least a thousand, according to NGOs - were arrested in four evenings.
Human rights defenders and families have denounced abuses during arrests and in police custody.
"The situation is catastrophic, the politicians are corrupt, we want to change the government and the system", explains Omar Jawadi, 33, sales manager in a hotel and who has only received half his salary for several months.
The Tunisian political class, paralyzed by its divisions, is struggling to cope with the social emergency.
Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi is awaiting a vote in Parliament on Tuesday to confirm a major reshuffle announced a week ago.
With AFP
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