Monitoring Desk
TUNIS: Hundreds of citizens in Tunisia’s capital took to the streets to protest over the president’s anti-migrant clampdown.
On Tuesday last, amid more comprehensive moves against his critics, President Kais Saied accused un-documented sub-Saharan migrants of being part of the plot to change the country’s character, bringing longstanding racial tussle to the surface.
Since the Kais Saied comments, there have been reports across media and social media of mob violence, with accounts of crowds storming the homes of migrants and forcibly evicting the occupants.
There have also been reports of local transport companies rejecting to sell tickets to those perceived to be undocumented, and several civil society organizations have been striving to find shelter for the displaced.
In response to the escalating racial anxiety, Tunisia’s young educated activists, more used to opposing than supporting the Tunisia ex-political class, have found common cause with the politicians and ex-judges now subject to arbitrary arrest and trial.
“I’ve faith that there are enough citizens in Tunisia who understand there is no place for racism in Tunisia that has managed to win its way to freedom after years of dictatorship,” said Chaima Bouhel, a famous civil society figure who was among about thousand protesters in Tunis on Saturday.
President of Tunisia
“And definitely, there is no place for racism in our government administration and our president’s speech, nor for violence for anyone, Tunisians and non-Tunisians. This is a land that must be open for every person, and Tunisia should not be the police for any type of borders, northern or southern,” she said, regarding the country’s role as a frequent transit view for asylum seekers and refugees.
I found @ChaimaB among the crowd #Tunisia pic.twitter.com/D1zWUiL3Dg
— Simon S. Cordall (@IgnitionUK) February 25, 2023
Marchers held banners, a number of them in British, claiming solidarity with migrants and reasserting Tunisia’s status as part of Africa. They chanted: “No terror, No fear, the street is for the people.”
