200 Injured As Tunisian Demonstrators Demand Job, Tanks Deployed In One City
By Countercurrents.org
30 November, 2012
Countercurrents.org
Tanks/armored vehicles were deployed and 200 Tunisians were injured in Siliana, a Tunisian city, as people protested for second day and police fired on the people on November 28, 2012. Protesters stormed the regional governorate’s headquarters and attacked a police station.
The people are demanding job and denouncing government failure to initiate development. It’s the latest unrest to hit Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, a process active in the volatile region.
Citing medical sources a Tunis datelined Reuters report carried by Business Report [1] said:
At least 200 people were injured as Tunisians demanding jobs and economic development clashed with police in Siliana, a city in the country’s economically deprived interior on the edge of the Sahara desert.
State television said that residents blocked the entrances to the city, setting tyres alight on roads.
Police fired teargas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesting people, said witnesses.
Iyed Dahmani, a politician from the Republican Party in the town, said the National Guard – an interior ministry-run security force – had deployed tanks to help restore order.
The protesters also demanded resignation of local officials, saying the authorities had failed to release development funds for their region.
The protests were the fiercest since hardline Salafi Islamists attacked the US embassy in Tunis in September over an anti-Islam film. That violence left four people dead.
Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali has accused both Salafis and liberal elites of harming Tunisia's economy and image through their conflict with each other. His Ennahda party has tried to present itself as a middle way between liberals and Salafis.
The World Bank on November 27, 2012 approved a $500 million loan to Tunisia to help it recover from the uprising, with another $700 million loan coming from other donors.
Another report [2] said:
FRANCE24 correspondent David Thomson and his Tunisian driver Hamdi Tlili were also injured in the clashes, apparently after being fired on by riot police. The pair later assured FRANCE24 that they are safe and out of danger [2].
A BBC report said:
People were also treated for shotgun injuries at the town's hospital.
The BBC's Sihem Hassaini in the capital, Tunis, said people were disappointed by the lack of progress following the revolution.
She said residents went on strike on November 27, 2012, angered that the mayor had failed to create jobs.
All offices and businesses in Siliana remained closed on November 28, 2012, as protests continued.
According to AFP, several armored vehicles were deployed as demonstrators set up barricaded on November 28, 2012.
The protestors threw stones and thick clouds of tear gas were seen over the town centre.
Thirteen serious injury cases were transferred to a hospital in Tunis, a medical source told the state-run Tap news agency.
Iyed Dahmani, the MP for Siliana, has begun a hunger strike, demanding more opportunities for his constituents.
Tunisia Live reported [4]:
Violence broke out in Siliana as protesters clashed with government supporters.
Protesters stormed the regional governorate’s headquarters and attacked a police station after police tried to intervene with tear gas and rubber bullets, according to witnesses in Siliana.
“There’s a state of terror in the whole city,” said Ahmed Chefîi, assistant secretary general of the regional branch of the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT), which has called for the governor to step down.
The UGTT had called for a general strike, which was the second in a week.
The tense climate led to the suspension of public services as unrest spread from the northern and southern agricultural districts of the governorate to the city of Siliana.
Another Tunisia Live report [5] said:
A group of youth demonstrated on November 28, 2012-afternoon in downtown Tunis in solidarity with the anti-government protesters in Siliana.
The protesters in Tunis are part of the “Think of Others” campaign, a project established during violence in Gaza this month, which aims to raise awareness about social issues outside Tunis.
“Our main demands are the following: lift the siege on Siliana, recognize the area’s right to development, defend the right to protest, and hold accountable those who are responsible for the violence in Siliana,” said Iadh Abidi, one of the campaign’s organizers.
“Despite buckshot and cartridges, Tunisians will not back down,” protesters in Tunis shouted, invoking reports that police were using live ammunition.
The campaign, named after a Mahmoud Darwich poem, is supported by the Watad Party, a radical leftist party and a component of the Popular Front. Locals from Siliana have also taken part in the “Think of Others” campaign.
Source:
[1] Reuters, Tarek Amara, “200 injured in protest over economy”, Nov. 28, 2012, http://www.iol.co.za/business/international/200-injured-in-protest-over-economy-1.1432476
[3] BBC, Nov. 28, 2012, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20533110
[4] Tunisia Live, Noah Rayman, “Clashes Erupt in Siliana Amid Anti-Government Protests”, Nov. 28, 2012, http://www.tunisia-live.net/2012/11/27/clashes-erupt-in-siliana-amid-anti-government-protests/
[5] Tunisia Live, Amira Masrour, “ Tunis Protesters Show Solidarity with Siliana”, Nov. 28, 2012, http://www.tunisia-live.net/2012/11/28/think-of-others-campaign-yells-out-against-violence-in-siliana/
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