Hope turns to despair seven years after Tunisian revolt
Tunisia has been convulsed by sometimesviolent demonstrations since Monday in which youths throwing stones and Molotov cocktails have clashed with security forces who responded with tear gas.
Dozens of people have been injured and more than 800 arrested on charges including theft, looting and arson.
One protester died on Monday night in Tebourba though police have insisted they did not kill him.
In the latest protest, hundreds of Tunisians took to the streets of Tunis and the coastal city of Sfax on Friday, waving yellow cards and demanding that the government reverse austerity measures.
The demonstrations “reveal an anger carried by the same people who mobilized in 2011 and obtained nothing in terms of economic and social rights,” said political scientist Olfa Lamloum.
The trigger of the new protests was a finance law imposing tax hikes after a year of rising prices. The Tunisian economy has never recovered from the instability that followed the revolution.
The key tourism sector was dealt another crushing blow by militant attacks that shook the country in 2015 including the beachside massacre of 38 foreign holidaymakers.
The government was forced to turn to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which lent Tunisia $2.9 billion in 2016 on condition that it reduced its budget and trade deficits.
Youth unemployment remains above 35 percent according to the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Every year since 2011, 10,000 children have dropped out of primary school and 100,000 young people have left college or high school without diplomas, said the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights.
In a sign of growing disenchantment, illegal emigration reached the highest level since 2011 in the autumn.
Municipal polls seen as the final stage in Tunisia’s transition to democracy have been delayed until May, while fresh legislative and presidential elections are planned for 2019.
But the democratic steps have not extinguished the revolutionary fervor altogether.
“The potential for resistance is still there,” Lamloum said. “Young people still have the same dream for Tunisia even if it will take time.”