Tunisians at heart of protest say govt is failing them

The unrest was triggered on January 17, when a young man who had reportedly been sacked from his government job protested by climbing a transmission tower and was electrocuted.

Protests against unemployment and poverty have spread across towns in central Tunisia since the beginning of the week.

Tunisia is waking up after a nighttime nationwide curfew.

That sparked protest and riots across the country until the government declared a nationwide curfew.

Job seekers also staged a fresh protest in the central town of Sidi Bouzid, cradle of the “Arab Spring” uprisings, and were dispersed by police using tear gas, witnesses said. The Interior Ministry’s press officer said, for his part, that 423 people have been arrested for “violence and looting” across the territory since the eruption of social protests.

Originally the poster child for success stories arising out of the 2011 “Arab Spring”, Tunisia – which was able to swiftly remove dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and transition to democracy – has struggled economically in the aftermath.

President Beji Caid Essebsi says Tunisia is under attack and warns that ISIL fighters in neighbouring Libya could take advantage of the unrest.

On Saturday, a small crowd at a government building in Kasserine reasserted their demands for jobs, while in Tunis the prime minister said the situation was under control.

Analyst Selim Kharrat called the unrest “the most serious social crisis since 2011”, and expressed disappointment at the cabinet’s failure to announce solutions to resolve the situation.

Saturday’s cabinet session comes after Essid earlier this month replaced his foreign and interior ministers in the first reshuffle since Essebsi took office in late 2014. France on Friday pledged one billion euros ($1.1 billion) in development aid to Tunisia over the next five years, after Essid held talks with French President Francois Hollande.

On Friday he said he had “no magic wand” to solve unemployment which is more than 15 percent nationwide and 32 percent among university graduates. “We would like people to show a little wisdom and know that it is in our interest to safeguard Tunisia”, Kamel Ayadi, minister for public services, governance and the fight against corruption, said on the radio.

Attacks claimed by the Islamic State group past year at the national museum and a beach resort killed a total of 60 people, all but one of them foreign tourists.

The group was also behind a suicide bombing in Tunis in November that killed 12 presidential guards.