Beatings, insults and arrests.. Tunisian parties and unions condemn the repression of demonstrators and warn against the return of the police state

Tunisian and international political parties, human rights and press organizations denounced the "repressive police approach" that the security services dealt Friday with the demonstrators who went out to celebrate the anniversary of the Tunisian revolution, and to protest what they call a "coup" by President Kais Saied against democracy in Tunisia.

Human rights sources told Al Jazeera that the Public Prosecution decided to arrest 15 demonstrators, including the resigned leader of the Dignity Coalition Party, Imad Dajeej, while ordering the release of 17 others, against the background of Friday's demonstrations on Habib Bourguiba Street celebrating the anniversary of the fall of the Zine El Abidine Ben Ali regime.

These sources added that the Public Prosecution charged the protesters with a number of charges, including violating health measures, gathering on the public road, and "indigestion (insulting) an employee while he was doing his work," referring to what it considered abuse by some protesters towards police personnel.

The Citizens Against the Coup campaign said that the Tunisian security forces carried out a campaign of arrests against demonstrators "without any respect for human rights."

liberties suppression

The Tunisian Workers' Party (left) warned, on Saturday, of the escalation in the repression of freedom of expression in Tunisia, since the "coup" of July 2021, and called in a statement on all democratic forces to confront what it described as "the repressive approach, which was the brutal acts of violence imposed Yesterday, the demonstrators in the capital had one of his hideous images.

The Secretary-General of the Workers' Party, Hamma Hammami, considered that the suppression of protesters opposing the president "is a return to the police state led by Kais Saied," adding that closing Habib Bourguiba Street is "a political decision primarily aimed at suppressing the protest movements," as he put it.

Hammami suggested that the country would witness "an escalation of repression and a war against protest movements and the media after the war on the judiciary," as he put it.

For its part, the Tunisian Ennahda movement strongly condemned what it called an "attack on political symbols" and prevented demonstrators rejecting President Kais Saied's measures from freely expressing their views.

In a statement, the movement condemned "the use of various forms of police violence against the protesters, such as beating with batons, spraying with pressurized and polluted water hoses, and the use of tear gas."

The movement spoke of "kidnapping" a number of demonstrators with the aim of putting pressure on and terrorizing peaceful civilian demonstrators.

A joint statement by the Republican Party, the Democratic Current and the Ettakatol party also confirmed their intention to file a complaint with the Public Prosecution against the Minister of Interior due to the severe violence and kidnapping of protesters, calling for an immediate investigation and their release.

"Coup Service"

For its part, the Democratic Current Party denounced the "systematic repression" and "the adaptation of the Ministry of the Interior to serve the coup authority."

He said in a statement that the party intends to file a complaint with the Public Prosecution against the Minister of Interior.

The Tunisian parliament, suspended by President Saied, condemned what he described as "blatant attacks that affected political and civil leaders and citizens" who participated in Friday's demonstrations in the capital.

In a statement, the Presidency of Parliament demanded the release of the kidnapped, arrested and imprisoned, stressing that peaceful demonstration and expression of opinion is a right guaranteed by the constitution and international covenants.

"The people are able to defend their rights and are ready to sacrifice more to complete the democratic transition," the statement said.

Journalists' terror

On Saturday, the Tunisian Journalists Syndicate condemned the "serious and unprecedented attacks by the security forces" against journalists, while covering Friday's demonstrations against President Kais Saied's measures.

The union said in a statement that it had recorded more than 20 attacks, as security forces targeted journalists and photojournalists with extreme violence during their response to the protesters' attempt to enter Habib Bourguiba Street.

In its statement, the union also strongly condemned the "barbaric violence and arrests" practiced by the security forces against citizens, and said that this "consecrates the state of police repression instead of the state of republican security."

The syndicate considered what happened "a step backwards towards more restrictions on public freedoms, including freedom of expression, especially freedom of the press."

The syndicate confirmed that it would start filing cases "against the aggressors against journalists", and expressed its readiness to defend freedom of expression, the press, and the media.

In turn, the Observatory of Rights and Freedoms in Tunisia denounced what it called "physical and moral violence" and "the violations that a number of citizens were subjected to on Friday."

Aliens too

The French newspaper Liberation confirmed that its reporter, Mathieu Galtier, was subjected to a "violent beating" in Tunisia by the police, so that he was prevented from covering Friday's demonstrations, according to what the French newspaper and the Foreign Correspondents Club in North Africa announced.

Liberation newspaper wrote on its website, "While he was covering a demonstration against President Kais Saied on Friday, our reporter, Mathieu Galtier, was violently beaten by several policemen. The newspaper's management strongly condemns this attack."

Galtier recounted what happened, saying, "They started hitting me from all directions, I was thrown to the ground, and I was screaming that I was a journalist. Someone sprayed gas on me at close range, they kicked me, in the end, they took my phone and my press card and left me there."

The reporter indicated that his belongings were returned to him after the medical personnel provided him with first aid, with the exception of the memory stick of his phone, which contained the photos and videos that he filmed during the protest.

In a statement, the Foreign Correspondents Club of North Africa condemned the "violence practiced by the security forces against journalists who were covering protests" in Tunisia, where violence "has reached an unprecedented level since the establishment of the Foreign Correspondents Club in North Africa in 2014."

On Friday, the security forces prevented the demonstrators from reaching Bourguiba Street, and used tear gas and water cannons to disperse them, coinciding with the 11th anniversary of the revolution, which overthrew the rule of then-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (1987-2011).

The protests came, on Friday, in response to calls from the "Citizens Against the Coup" initiative, the "Ennahda", the "Democratic Current", "Ettakatol", the "Republican", and "Labour" parties, rejecting President Said's actions.

Tunisia has been experiencing a political crisis since last July 25, when it imposed "exceptional measures", including: freezing the powers of Parliament, issuing legislation by presidential decree, dismissing the prime minister, and appointing new ones.

The majority of political and civil forces in Tunisia reject these measures, and consider them a "coup against the constitution", while other forces support them, seeing them as a "correction of the course of the 2011 revolution."