Hundreds of Tunisians Protest against Police Abuses

Hundreds of Tunisians marched in the capital on Saturday to protest against police abuses. (AP file photo)
Hundreds of Tunisians marched in the capital on Saturday to protest against police abuses. (AP file photo)
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Hundreds of Tunisians Protest against Police Abuses

Hundreds of Tunisians marched in the capital on Saturday to protest against police abuses. (AP file photo)
Hundreds of Tunisians marched in the capital on Saturday to protest against police abuses. (AP file photo)

Hundreds of Tunisians marched in the capital on Saturday to protest against police abuses they say are endangering freedoms won in the 2011 revolution.

Hundreds of riot police confronted the demonstrators, leading to scuffles. Some protesters threw bottles, while police struck some demonstrators with batons.

There have been near daily protests since the mid-January, the anniversary of Tunisia's revolution that sparked uprisings across the region in 2011, known as the so-called Arab Spring.

Amid sporadic clashes, police have arrested more than a thousand people during demonstrations over the past two weeks against financial inequality, the marginalization of poor areas and what protesters say have been heavy-handed police tactics.

A young man died in the central city of Sbeitla last week, which his family blamed on him being hit by a teargas canister.

Amnesty International on Thursday called on Tunisian authorities to investigate the death.

In Tunis, hundreds joined a protest in the center of the capital with scuffles erupting as police blocked the way to the main Avenue Habib Bourguiba, where the Interior Ministry building is located.

Some protesters threw bottles at police, while about 10 officers used batons to beat them back and stop them accessing the avenue, a Reuters witness said.

Some demonstrators held signs that read, "Police everywhere, justice nowhere", while others chanted slogans including "Down with police rule" and "Release the nation's sons (from detention)".

"They want to steal the principles won since the revolution," said Mohammed Smida, a protester who compared Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi to former ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who was ousted in 2011 after almost 25 years in power.

"Today our right to protest is threatened by the new Ben Ali," Smida said.

Mired in a political and economic crisis worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic, Tunisians are angered at a political class seen as locked in power struggles and disconnected from the suffering of ordinary people, who are facing spiraling prices and steep unemployment.

The International Monetary Fund last week encouraged Tunisia to set up a reform plan to "bring economic imbalances back to a sustainable trajectory".



Damascus, Ankara Agree Natural Gas Deal for Syria

 A drone view shows the power plant in Aleppo, Syria, April 15, 2025. (Reuters)
A drone view shows the power plant in Aleppo, Syria, April 15, 2025. (Reuters)
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Damascus, Ankara Agree Natural Gas Deal for Syria

 A drone view shows the power plant in Aleppo, Syria, April 15, 2025. (Reuters)
A drone view shows the power plant in Aleppo, Syria, April 15, 2025. (Reuters)

Syrian Energy Minister Mohammad al-Bashir said Friday Damascus and Ankara had reached a deal for Türkiye to supply natural gas to the war-torn country via a pipeline in the north.

"I agreed with my Turkish counterpart Alparslan Bayraktar on supplying Syria with six million cubic meters of natural gas a day through the Kilis-Aleppo pipeline," Bashir said in a statement carried by state news agency SANA.

Kilis is near Türkiye’s border with Syria, which is north of the city of Aleppo.

The deal will "contribute to increasing the hours of electricity provision and improve the energy situation in Syria", Bashir added.

Syria's authorities, who toppled Bashar al-Assad in December, are seeking to rebuild the country's infrastructure and economy after almost 14 years of civil war.

The conflict badly damaged Syria's power infrastructure, leading to cuts that can last for more than 20 hours a day.

Bayraktar told the private CNN-Turk broadcaster late Thursday that "we will provide natural gas to Syria from Kilis within the next three months".

"This gas will be used in electricity generation at the natural gas power plant in Aleppo," he said, confirming an expected daily flow of six million cubic meters.

In March, Qatar said it had begun funding gas supplies to Syria from Jordan, in a move aimed at addressing electricity production shortages and improving infrastructure.

That announcement said the initiative was set to generate up to 400 megawatts of electricity daily in the first phase, with production capacity to gradually increase at the Deir Ali station southeast of Damascus.

Both Türkiye and Qatar have close ties with Syria's transitional government, and were the first two countries to reopen their embassies in Damascus after Assad's ouster.

Both have also urged the lifting of sanctions on Syria.

In January, Syria's electricity chief said two power ships were being sent from Türkiye and Qatar to increase supply after the United States eased sanctions, allowing fuel and electricity donations to Syria for six months.

Last month, Britain said it was lifting energy production sector sanctions, a move Damascus said would "directly contribute to improving" Syrians' living conditions.