Around 600 Tunisians arrested in protests against new taxes and prices

MENA

Published: 2018-01-11 16:49

Last Updated: 2024-03-28 13:08


Tunisian women calling for social justice. (Reuters)
Tunisian women calling for social justice. (Reuters)

More than 600 protesters were arrested in Tunisia and one man killed, as people went to streets to demonstrate the government’s new prices and taxes.

For the third night in a row, people protested in the streets amid threats of a security crackdown, with at least 49 police officers were injured during clashes erupted between police and demonstrators.

Protests started in at least 10 different areas in the country during last weekend as peaceful demonstrations, before police fired tear gas leading to escalations.

Demonstrators are demanding the government to drop the 2018 budget, which opposition groups describe as "unfair”.

The Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed's promised that 2018 would be the last "difficult" year.

He also confirmed that they are facing extraordinary and difficult times, with promises that this economic situation is going to an end.

As near the Algerian border, in Thala, police troops were sent in after protesters burned down the national security building, forcing police to retreat from the town, the BBC reported.

Protests are expected to continue as it erupted in the 7th anniversary for the Tunisian revolution.

However, Tunisia has been facing economic struggles since the 2011 revolution, when Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the ousted President, was forced to flee on January 14th, 2017.

Tunisia was the first country to go on protests calling for political reform and social justice after 23 years of oppression.

Currently, the economic conditions in Tunisia is not much better than it was before the 2011 uprising, in addition to high numbers of poverty and unemployment among youth.