Workers across Tunisia walked out in protest of President Kaïs Saïed’s plan to rewrite the constitution and slash vital subsidies that keep wheat and bread affordable.
Tunisian president launches coup amid protests against mass COVID-19 deaths
On Sunday, Tunisian President Kaïs Saïed sacked the Islamist Ennahda Movement government, suspended parliament and deployed the army to guard state buildings. This followed protests called across Tunisia against joblessness and the official mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the last month, anger mounted as the Delta variant devastated the country, leading to a collapse of medical care as hospitals overflowed with the sick and the dead. With nearly 19,000 deaths among a population of 11.9 million, Tunisia has suffered 1,587 confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million inhabitants, the highest rate in Africa. As its economy was hit by the pandemic, moreover, unemployment surged to nearly 18 percent and over 40 percent for youth.
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.