Tunisia: security approach to protest was wrong, says civil society group

A civil society group in Tunisia has condemned the use of the security services against protesters in the capital on Saturday. A protest march organised by the Free Destourian Party was attacked by the security services after it deviated from the agreed and licensed route

The National Observatory for the Defence of the Civil Nature of the State said on Facebook yesterday that the use of the security services in such a situation is “proof that the current authority does not allow the civilian opposition to play its part” in the country. “It did not deal in the same way with a demonstration supporting political Islam,” the organisation added, a reference to the march called by the National Salvation Front. “This reveals the dangers besetting the civilian state.”

The organisation expressed its support for the protest in defence of freedom and citizens’ rights to live in dignity. “We reject political Islam and all attempts to attack the civil nature of the state, as well as policies that adopt populism and individual opinion.”

READ: Protests and a general strike continue in Tunisia

There exist grave concerns about the dangers of tyranny, monopoly of power, restrictions on individual and collective freedoms, economic collapse and the social crisis that threatens Tunisia with chaos, it added. “We call on all components of civil society to unify efforts and programmes to face these dangers.”

The head of the Free Destourian Party, Abir Moussi, was subjected to “humiliating treatment” on Saturday, said the group. Moreover, fifteen party supporters were injured during the march in Tunis. According to Tunis Afrique Presse, seven of the injured were taken to hospital after clashing with the security services.

Moussi has since started a sit-in protest and hunger strike near the headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior in protest against the “violence” that she and her party’s supporters were subjected to at the hands of the security services.

Tunisia’s president Kais Saied is bleeding the country – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]