A growing groundswell of youth unrest, tapping into a well of economic frustration, is sweeping Tunisia, the country which triggered the 2011 ‘Arab Spring’. A third of the nation’s young people are unemployed. Many are angry about their poverty. Since 14 January they have taken to the streets in violent marches. There have been 1,000 arrests, and the army has been deployed in four hot spots. Protest groups are growing in size and are out in force every night staging simultaneous, often-violent demonstrations: pelting municipal buildings with stones, throwing Molotov cocktails, looting, vandalising, and clashing with police in poor, densely populated districts. By 24 January hundreds more were protesting against police repression, chanting, ‘No more fear, the streets belong to the people’ and ‘The people want the fall of the regime’ - popularised during the Arab Spring. They also called for the release of hundreds of protesters detained recently. See
Tunisia: youth protests sweeping country
Written by David Fletcher 28 Jan 2021Additional Info
- Pray: for wise and honest governance, and for police to maintain order and end looting and vandalism so that peace replaces unrest. (Luke 1:79)
- More: www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/24/tunisia-protests-continue-against-police-brutality-corruption
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