Confrontations between the police and demonstrators, in Bardo on January 26, 2021. -

Noureddine Ahmed // SIPA

The protest against the government does not fall in Tunisia.

Hundreds of people demonstrated Tuesday against the political class and police repression, especially near the barricaded seat of Parliament in Tunis, where the deputies validated a large reshuffle of the government.

Parliamentarians voted late Tuesday to trust the eleven new ministers, including those of the Interior, Justice and Health, despite controversies over several names and harsh criticism from President Kais Saied.

In an attempt to calm things down, the head of government Hichem Mechichi assured Tuesday evening that his cabinet would listen to the young people who protest.

10 years of the revolution

During the day, demonstrators were prevented from arriving in front of the Assembly, relegated to an adjacent street by a very large police force.

Some deputies protested against this massive deployment, calling for more dialogue.

The demonstrators are protesting in particular against the security management of the social protest movement which erupted in mid-January in marginalized areas of the country, the day after the 10th anniversary of the revolution which brought down on January 14, 2011 the dictator Ben Ali.

Demonstrations have since multiplied to demand the release of those arrested and better social policy.

It must be said that unemployment affects more than one in three young people and health restrictions have accentuated the social crisis by destroying tens of thousands of jobs.

The unrest that had eased over the weekend resumed Tuesday in Sbeïtla, in a marginalized region of central Tunisia, the day after the death of a young man injured last week by a tear gas canister during a demonstration .

Residents threw stones and police fired tear gas on the sidelines of the young man's funeral.

In Parliament, some opposition MPs brandished his portrait.

Conflict between the president and his prime minister

Above all, the reshuffle has revived the divisions and animosities that paralyze the political class.

A sign of growing divisions, President Kais Saied criticized the future executive on Monday evening, regretting that he had not been consulted.

He blasted the absence of women among the proposed ministers and accused one of the chosen ministers of being "linked to a corruption case" and three others of being suspected of "conflict of interest", without specifying names .

Hichem Mechichi, appointed in August by President Saied, initially put together a team comprising many officials or academics, including some close to the president.

But he gradually moved away from Kais Saied, until he reconstituted his team with the support of Ennahdha, the main party in Parliament, which is leading a standoff with the president.

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