Hundreds of protesters demonstrated in the Tunisian capital and several other cities on Sunday;
Demanding the government to step down and dissolve Parliament in light of the worsening Corona virus pandemic in the country, while British Health Minister Sajid Javid apologized for a tweet, and then deleted it, in which he had called on the British to take the virus vaccine and “not to shiver” for fear of Corona.
Tunisian police used pepper spray to disperse the demonstrators near the parliament headquarters in the capital, after they threw stones and chanted slogans calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Hicham Al-Mashishi and the dissolution of parliament.
And Reuters news agency quoted eyewitnesses as saying that hundreds also left in Gafsa, Sidi Bouzid, Monastir, Nabeul, Sfax and Tozeur.
In Sousse, demonstrators tried to storm the local headquarters of the Ennahda party, the largest party in parliament, and a video broadcast on social media showed protesters setting fire to the Ennahda headquarters in Tozeur, in the south of the country.
The Corona pandemic struck Tunisia at a time when it was struggling to save the economy, which has been suffering since the 2011 revolution, and in light of a political crisis between the constitutional institutions.
"We have run out of patience, there are no solutions for the unemployed, they cannot control the epidemic, they cannot give us vaccines," said Noureddine Al-Salmi, 28, an unemployed protester.
dismissal of the minister
Last week, Al-Mashichi sacked Health Minister Faouzi Boumehdi after chaotic scenes in the vaccination centers during the Eid al-Adha holiday, when large crowds of young people lined up to receive the vaccine due to lack of supplies, and President Qais Saeed announced that the army would deal with the pandemic, saying that plans to address it had failed.
Today's protests came on the occasion of the 64th anniversary of the proclamation of the republic on July 25 of each year, and no party parties adopted this protest move except for the Supreme Youth Council (a group on Facebook), which issued a statement transmitted by activists in the past few days, calling for a change in the political system within Transition period does not exceed 6 months.
Yesterday, Saturday, European countries and Australia witnessed widespread protests, rejecting the new health measures imposed to curb the spread of the pandemic.
Demonstrations took place in France and Italy, in refusal to tighten precautionary measures, and to enforce the mandatory health passport.
shivering tweet
On the other hand, the British Minister of Health apologized for a tweet he posted on his account, in which he urged people to take the anti-Covid-19 vaccine, and not to "shirk" for fear of the virus, and the British minister said today that he "wrongly chose the word."
Sajid Javid faced criticism for using the expression "shivering" for fear of the virus that has killed tens of thousands of Britons, at a time when many are seeking to avoid infection.
The British Minister of Health said he mischosen the term "shivers" in the context of urging the British to get the Corona vaccine (Getty)
Javid - who took office last June - said that he deleted a tweet in which he used the word "shivers", adding, "I was expressing my gratitude, because vaccines help us resist as a society, but it was a poor choice of word, and I sincerely apologize."
And the British minister wrote - in the deleted tweet - “If you have not done so (taking the vaccine), then please take the vaccine so that we learn how to live with this virus, instead of shivering in fear of it.”
Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the opposition Labor Party, criticized the Minister of Health's use of the phrase "shivering for fear of it (the virus)", and said, "127,000 people died of this virus (in Britain), and tens of thousands of them would have survived if it were not for the catastrophic failure of your government .. How dare you denigrate people for trying to keep them and their families safe?"
Britain - which has one of the highest death rates from Corona - has modified its strategy to combat the virus, so instead of continuing to impose restrictions to limit the spread of the virus, it has resorted to opening up society in the hope that vaccines will protect most people from serious disease.
Third dose الجرعة
And in the United States, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said today that Americans with weak immunity may need a third booster dose of vaccines against Covid-19, and Fauci added - in an interview with CNN. (CNN) American - “Those who are undergoing organ transplants, or chemotherapy for cancer, and those with autoimmune diseases, and those on immunosuppressive regimes, will be among the first to be eligible for a third dose of vaccines.
On the other hand, the US news website Dow Jones mentioned - quoting the CEO of BioNetch, Ugur Sahin - that it is possible to decrease the immunity provided by the vaccine developed by Pfizer and Pfizer. Biontech, however, most people who get vaccinated will still be protected against severe infection and may not need a third dose.
It is noteworthy that the total number of coronavirus infections has reached more than 194.4 million cases, including 4 million and 168 deaths, and the United States leads the world in terms of the number of infections, followed by India, Brazil, France and Russia.