Hundreds of protesters demanding jobs clashed with police in several Tunisian towns on Saturday, blocking the route of visiting Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi in one region, on the sixth anniversary of the country’s revolution.
Local residents said protests that erupted in the southern town of Ben Guerdane had spread over the weekend to several other areas such as Sidi Bouzid, Meknassi and Gafsa, where Essebsi visited to mark the 2011 uprising that ousted then-Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Six years after that revolt, Tunisia is hailed as a model of democratic transition, but rural central and southern regions remain flashpoints for rioting in marginalized towns where many young Tunisians see little economic opportunity or progress.
In Gafsa, angry young people protested against Essebsi’s visit, throwing stones and blocking the road.
Local media outlets and residents said the president’s convoy was forced to change its route before he left by air.
In Sidi Bouzid, the cradle of the Tunisian revolution sparked by the death of a street vendor protesting against official corruption and abuses, hundreds demonstrated in front of the local governorate, making the same demands as six years ago.
“We raised the same slogans as 2011 ... work is our right ... no fear, and the street belongs to the people,” Attia Athmouni, a local resident, told reporters.
In Meknassi, police arrested some protesters late on Friday. However, the protests continued in Meknassi and Manzel Bouziane on Saturday.
The presidency said that Essebsi announced development projects which would provide more job opportunities in Gafsa, the heart of the country’s state-run phosphate business, where exports have also been disrupted by protests over jobs.
After a day of calm following a visit by a delegation of ministers to Ben Guerdane, near the Libyan border, protesters on Saturday again clashed with police, local residents said.
Economic progress has failed to match the country’s political advances.
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