On Tuesday, hundreds of Tunisian demonstrators were fired with tear gas by police forces, in the southern city of Tataouine. The protestors tried to enter government headquarters but were faced with a police blockade.
The demonstrators demand the resignation of the government, and protest the lack of jobs. Facing one of the highest unemployment rates, the protesters called for the government to provide them with jobs, especially in oil companies and projects of infrastructure.
Tunisia has been dominated by increasing tensions emerging from the conflict between the country’s Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and its President Kais Saied. Parallel to the political crisis, the country witnessed intense protests earlier this year.
Though the country is considered perhaps the only one to succeed in creating a democracy after the Arab Spring, regions like Tataouine are still struggling with major problems such as youth unemployment. The protesters claim that conditions of earlier agreements, signed with the government on this issue, were never truly implemented.
