Maghreb news- Lamine Ghanmi
Tunisian police firing tear gas clashed for the third day with hundreds of protesters who tried to storm local government buildings in several towns on Thursday to show anger about lack jobs and unfulfilled promises of regional development, residents and local media said.
Tunisian police officer died in Kasserine region in clashes with young protesters who had overturned his car during one of a series of demonstrations against mass unemployment, as unrest triggered by the death of an unsuccessful job-seeker spread to several cities.
Tensions have risen in the Kasserine region since Sunday when a young man was electrocuted after scaling a transmission tower to protest his rejection for a government job. Protests spread overnight into Thursday to several cities, including the capital, Tunis.
Unemployment is around 15 percent in Tunisia, but far higher outside the capital region. Among young people, it’s around 30 percent, among the highest rate in the world.
« We have been waiting for things to get better for five years, and nothing has happened. We’re tired of broken promises, » said by telephone Yassine Kahlaoui, a 30-year-old jobseeker who was among more than a thousand of people gathered at the local government building in Kasserine.
Interior Ministry spokesman Walid Louguini said the police officer was attacked by the crowd as he tried to leave his car during a protest in Feriana, in the Kasserine region. Louguini said unrest elsewhere injured 59 officers; medical officials estimated about 40 injured among protesters.
The suicide five years ago of another unemployed youth in the area set off a popular uprising that overthrew Tunisia’s longtime ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and eventually gave rise to the « Arab Spring » uprisings across North Africa and he Middle East.
Tunisia’s government on Wednesday announced a series of measures for the outlying regions and an investigative commission to look into allegations of corruption.
Prime Minister Habib Essid cut short his visit to Switzerland where he attened Davos Forum as the protestes extended to more towns inlcuding in Kebili where about 150 protesters stormed the police station from which policemen withdrew as angry demonstrators pelted the station with stones.
Essid is due to chair an emergency meeting to try to ease the tensions in several parts of the country.
The protests have evoked memories of the suicide of a struggling young market vendor in December 2010 that became a catalyst for the Tunisian 2011 « Arab Spring » uprising which inspired angry mass protests across the Arab world.
That triggered bloodshed and upheavals in Libya, Egypt, Yemen and Syria where more than 200,000 people lost their lives and millions took regue in neighbouring countries amid an mass exodus to Europe.
Tunisia has been held up as a model for democratic progress since that uprising with free elections and a modern constitution. The country managed to mostly avoid violence and chaos in other countries that ousted long-standing leaders.
But for many Tunisians, the revolution has not delivered on economic promises. Jobs, high living costs and a lack of opportunities remain the priority for many young Tunisians.
Three major Islamist militant attacks in Tunisia last year have also hit the economy hard, especially the tourism industry which is a key source of revenue and employment amid shrinking growth and higher deficits.
Many Tunisians fear the riots could open way for Jihadists to inflitrate cities as the government security forces were mobilised to quell the unrest.
The authorities announcd on Thursday an unspecied number of Jihadists attemped to sneak out of their hideout on Chamabi mountainous areas but they were repelled by the armed forces.