Tear-gas in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia


This video is called Sidi Bouzid a year after Tunisia’s uprising.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Tunisian police tear-gas protesters

Friday 10 August 2012

by Our Foreign Desk

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse an anti-government protest in the Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid on Thursday evening.

In Sidi Bouzid, the revolution which drove away dictator Ben Ali started. Recently, authorities there arrested the mother of the street vendor, whose suicide by fire started the anti-Ben Ali movement.

Around 800 demonstrators – angry at police intervention in a protest earlier in the day – threw stones at security forces who replied with rubber bullets and tear gas.

On Thursday morning hundreds of demonstrators demanding the resignation of the Islamist-led government had forced their way into the provincial government headquarters, before police fired tear gas and warning shots into the air.

The demonstrators chanted anti-government slogans such as “The people want the regime to fall” accusing the ruling elite of hypocrisy and demanding the right to work.

Several opposition groups took part in the protest, including the Republican Party, the Tunisian Workers Party and al-Watan.

The Tunisian Workers Party denounced the tactics used by the police and reiterated its support for the protesters’ demands, including the dismissal of the provincial governor, the head of the national guard and the public prosecutor.

Thursday’s protests mirrored criticism of the government by opposition groups.

Ennahda, which leads the ruling coalition, has been accused of seeking to limit freedom of expression, most recently with a draft law to criminalise offences against “sacred values.”

Another controversy has flared up over a proposed article in the new constitution that refers to the “complementarity” of men to women rather than their equality.

Around 200 protesters from opposition groups gathered outside the National Constituent Assembly in Tunis on Thursday to denounce the proposal.

The Arab Uprisings in Context: An Interview With Middle East Expert Rami G. Khouri: here.

4 thoughts on “Tear-gas in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia

  1. even after the regime change un Tunisia, the conflict haven’t ended yet, this is an obvious sign that the first regime change was controlled by the NATO

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    • Ben Ali was a favourite of the US government and especially the Sarkozy government in France. However, there is pressure from NATO countries now to keep as much as possible of the old Ben Ali power structure.

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  2. Pingback: Tunisian workers, women fight for justice | Dear Kitty. Some blog

  3. Pingback: Tunisian Sidi Bouzid unemployed fight for their rights | Dear Kitty. Some blog

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