(Maghreb news)- Lamine Ghanmi
Tunisia’s Prime Minister Habib Essid said on Saturday that his country’s nascent democracy would be preserved « whatever the cost » following four days of violent job protests and riots, urging for patience and time to satisfy younth’s economic demands.
The authorities said the situation was calm throughout the country, a day after authorities imposed a nationwide nighttime curfew.
The demonstrations that began in the impoverished town of Kasserine on Tuesday and spread across the country are the most serious challenge facing the governmentsince the 2011 ouster of former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Tunisia has been held up as an example for peaceful democratic transition since the 2011 revolution. But there has been rising discontent over a lack of jobs and high living costs, especially in the country’s interior.
Tunisia has the highest joblessness rate for young university graduates at more than 30 percent and inflation gauge roughly at 5 percent annually over the past five years, with gross domestic product amid perceptions of widespread corruption.
Thousands of young people have ekeing a living from the black market and smuggling through porous borders with Libya and Algeria.
But these two valves have been mostly shut down amid crackdown on smugglers as the authorities stepped up the fight against terrorism following three Jihadist attacks that wreacked havoc on tourism, key sector for employment and foreign currency earnings.
Essid told a news conference that he understood the demands of young Tunisians, but said people seeking to « destroy the democratic transition » had taken advantage of the protests.
He did not identify these people bent on scruppering the democratic progress but local media reported that some young people allegedly paid by smugglers had infiltrated the protesters to attack police and other security forces.
In the past, the government wagged fingers on « foreigners » or « Jihadists » as scare tactics and a way to dry up support for protesters and draw sympathy among a population used to stability under dictatorship.
« I appeal for calm and for national unity and complete security across the country to preserve our nascent democracy which is the only example of success in the region, » he said.
« There has been huge political progress but we acknowledge that there are lots of economic difficulties. We will respond to young people’s economic demands but we need a bit of time for that. » He said Tunisian democracy would not be destroyed, « whatever the cost ».
The curfew began on Friday, when there was further violence in the capital, Tunis. The interior ministry said almost 70 people had been arrested for damaging property or theft.
Protests this week have seen demonstrators storm police stations and local government buildings and clash with riot police. One policeman has been killed and dozens injured.
« Tunisia’s stability and security has been targeted, » President Beji Caid Essebsi said in a televised address late on Friday. « Even Daesh (Islamic State) in Libya wants to take advantage of this situation of violence. »