Tunisian police clash with protestors over lack of job opportunities

Tunisian police have clashed with hundreds of young protesters demanding jobs in the city of Kasserine, west-central of Tunisia.

Protestors blocked the main road leading to the province of Kasserine and set fire to a number of cars, Anadolu news agency reported.

Hundreds of unemployed university graduates gathered on Wednesday morning outside the governorate headquarters calling for more job opportunities. The protests follow the death of Ridha Yahyaoui, a young job-seeker, who committed suicide in Kasserine on Sunday after he found out his name had been taken from a government pool of potential public employees.

One of the demonstrators Shukri Anakazi said: “We want to send a message to the government about the need to solve the unemployment and development problems in Kasserine. In every family there are at least three without a job and we demand to employ at least one of them to provide for the family.”

Another protester Waheda Zaidi said: “Kasserine has been marginalized for decades, living under injustice and oppression.”

Kasserine Governor Chadli Buallaq commented: “There is an urgent action by the government to target Kasserine population including support for micro-enterprises and job creation worth $1.5 million.”

On Tuesday, the Tunisian interior ministry imposed a curfew on the city of Kasserine.