Tunisian regime deploys army as protests spread 10 years after Arab Spring
Ten years after a revolutionary working class uprising toppled President Zine El Abedine Ben Ali, the Tunisian regime is deploying the army against demonstrations that have erupted in dozens of cities across the country. Yesterday, Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi’s government arrested 632 youth in an attempt to crush protests that are spreading across the country.
Explosive anger is building in working class districts across North Africa. At the beginning of the year, Mechichi’s government was facing a wave of local strikes by teachers opposing its murderous policy of enforcing in-person learning despite the spread of COVID-19. At that point, Mechichi suddenly decided to declare a four-day curfew starting on the anniversary of Ben Ali’s overthrow, January 14.