Confrontations Renew Between Tunisian Security, Protesters in Tataouine

Protests and clashes broke out again on Friday between protesters and army units in Remada city, in Tunisia’s Tataouine state.

This comes in light of the shooting incident against Mansour al-Taroumi on Tuesday evening near the Tunisian-Libyan border.

Protesters burned tires and closed the roads using containers and rocks to prevent army vehicles from entering the neighborhoods as security units chased demonstrators inside residential compounds.

The military judiciary launched a probe to determine the incident’s ramifications and find out whether the young man died from the bullets fired by soldiers at four cars that were smuggled from Libya.

President Kais Saied warned on Thursday of the dangers of attempting to drag the army into internal political struggles amid ongoing protests in Tataouine.

During a meeting of the National Security Council, the President warned of the gravity of the situation, noting that some unnamed parties are trying to harm the state by targeting its institutions and trying to diminish its authority in some regions.

Few hours earlier, more than 100 people gathered near oil facilities southeastern Tunisia to denounce the marginalization and demand job opportunities and investments, according to an AFP photographer.

On Thursday, dozens of people staged a sit-in outside the oil and gas plant in El Kamour desert area.

Mostly youth, protesters set up tents and prevented trucks of the six petroleum companies involved in extracting oil and gas from passing.

Saied said in a video released on the presidential official Facebook page that the “situation in the south is not acceptable.”

He affirmed the “legitimacy” of these protests, noting that he is ready to receive any of the protesters to hold talks and reach a settlement.

The Kamour movement, which has been leading the local protests since 2017, called on the government to provide more job opportunities and put an end to regional development inequality.

Protesters demand that the government implement the terms of an agreement concluded in 2017, which provides for jobs and investments in the marginalized region.