Tear gas used against Tunisia anti-government protesters as anger over poverty continues

Tunisian security forces continued attacks on anti-government protesters for the third day in a row in the capital Tunis on Sunday evening.

Tear gas was used to disperse protesters in Tunis, reported The New Arab's Arabic sister service, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, which follows a deterioration in the country's social and economic crisis.

"The situation is delicate and the confrontations, according to most of the youth, will continue," said Maher, a young man from one neighbourhood where protests took place.

Tunisia has witnessed continued economic stagnation following a power grab by President Kais Saied.

Several neighbourhoods in Tunis were closed after rubber tyres were set alight resulting in some cars catching fire.

"The more force is used by security services, the more the protesters will revolt," Maher added.

He said the demonstrations were fuelled by the death of Malek Sellimi, a 24-year-old man who was pursued by Tunisian security before falling into a coma.

After his funeral on Friday, there were protests and congestion in two neighbourhoods in the capital.

The Tunisian interior ministry's information office chief, Faker Bouzghaia, alleged a number of infiltrators participated in the protests on Saturday in the Al-Tadamon and Al-Intilaqah neighbourhoods. He claimed this was for political reasons and to carry out thefts.

How Tunisia’s 'intellectual exodus' has become the main source of income of dozens of families amidst the country's economic crisis ⬇ https://t.co/wuTVgklk6y

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) September 17, 2022

Bouzghaia claimed that money was seized from several people who intended to distribute it to protesters, saying that reports of Sellimi being attacked by security forces "contain many inaccuracies".

"A patrol stopped Malik Sellimi and his two friends as a routine procedure but he fled and jumped from a high wall and fell," he said in a statement.

"All necessary precautions were taken, and the public prosecution was consulted."

Bouzghaia said an injured Sellimi was taken swiftly to the hospital.

"[The Tunisian] interior ministry possesses the records of Malik Sellimi before his death and the two young people who were with him testified that he was not subjected to violence," he said.

Tunisia was viewed as the Arab Spring's biggest success story until Saied seized wider powers in 2021, viewed as a coup by many Tunisians.

The president has since pushed through a constitution granting him autocratic powers.

Despite Tunisia's success in democracy until the 2021 dissolving of parliament, the country has still been hit by a floundering economy and high unemployment.