Tunisia Approves Plan to Secure Beaches, Tourism Sites

Workers clean the site of an explosion in the center of the Tunisian capital Tunis, Tunisia October 29, 2018. (File photo: Reuters)
Workers clean the site of an explosion in the center of the Tunisian capital Tunis, Tunisia October 29, 2018. (File photo: Reuters)
TT
20

Tunisia Approves Plan to Secure Beaches, Tourism Sites

Workers clean the site of an explosion in the center of the Tunisian capital Tunis, Tunisia October 29, 2018. (File photo: Reuters)
Workers clean the site of an explosion in the center of the Tunisian capital Tunis, Tunisia October 29, 2018. (File photo: Reuters)

Tunisian ministries of interior, defense and tourism have announced a security plan to give a boost to tourism in the country, which is expected to witness a record number of around 9 million visitors.

The plan is being implemented amid fears of attacks similar to 2015 when terrorists hit the Bardo National Museum, west of Tunis, and a hotel in the coastal city of Sousse, leaving dozens of foreigners dead and injured.

Over 30,000 security officers have been recruited to secure beaches and control access to major cities, according to Tunisian security sources. They will also be required to guard hotels’ vicinity and facilitate movement of tourist buses.

Army units will also be in charge of securing some parts of the southern desert on the Libyan-Tunisian border as well as the desert on the border with Algeria.

In the same context, the Ministry of Tourism has recently developed a plan to support all hotels, resorts, amusement parks and restaurants, as well as equipping them with surveillance cameras along a program for the formation of security guards in coordination with specialized units of the Ministry of Interior.

On June 26, 2015, Tunisian terrorist Saifuddin Rizki opened fire on a group of foreign tourists in a hotel in Sousse killing 39 of them, most of whom were British nationals, in what became one of the country’s deadliest terrorist attacks.

Tunisian security agents accused personnel responsible for securing Sousse of not providing assistance to victims in a serious condition.

The case is still under investigation, similar to the March 18 terrorist attack on the Bardo National Museum, which left 23 people, including 22 foreigners, dead.



Pro-Palestinian Protest Prompts Scuffle onstage at Royal Opera House in London

A detained demonstrator sits inside a police van, following a protest in support of the Palestine Action group in Parliament Square in London, Britain, July 19, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
A detained demonstrator sits inside a police van, following a protest in support of the Palestine Action group in Parliament Square in London, Britain, July 19, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
TT
20

Pro-Palestinian Protest Prompts Scuffle onstage at Royal Opera House in London

A detained demonstrator sits inside a police van, following a protest in support of the Palestine Action group in Parliament Square in London, Britain, July 19, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
A detained demonstrator sits inside a police van, following a protest in support of the Palestine Action group in Parliament Square in London, Britain, July 19, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes

A performer holding a Palestinian flag touched off a brief scuffle on stage at the Royal Opera House in London on Saturday night as cast members were taking their bows following the season's final performance of “Il Trovatore.”

Images posted on social media show what appears to be a member of the chorus holding the unfurled flag in front of his chest while the lead singers bask in the audience's applause, Reuters reported.

After a few moments, someone backstage attempts to grab the flag, but the performer holds onto the banner and snaps back into place.

Singers were taking their bows after the end of the opera by Giuseppe Verdi. Director Adele Thomas’ production reinterprets the story of desire and an all-consuming curse, the opera said.

"The display of the flag was spontaneous and unauthorized action by the artist,'' the opera company told the BBC.

"It was not approved by the Royal Ballet & Opera and is not in line with our commitment to political impartiality.”