TUNIS: Hundreds of Tunisians marched in the capital on Saturday to protest against police abuses they say are endangering freedoms won in the 2011 revolution that swept away authoritarian rule.
Hundreds of riot police confronted the demonstrators, leading to scuffles. Some protesters threw bottles, while police struck some demonstrators with batons.
There have been near daily protests since the mid-January, the anniversary of Tunisia’s revolution that sparked uprisings across the region in 2011, known as the Arab Spring. Tunisia was the only Arab state to emerge with a democratic system in place.
Amid sporadic clashes, police have arrested more than a thousand people during demonstrations over the past two weeks against financial inequality, the marginalization of poor areas and what protesters say have been heavyhanded police tactics.
A young man died in the central city of Sbeitla last week, which his family blamed on him being hit by a teargas canister.
In Tunis, hundreds joined a protest in the center of the capital with scuffles erupting as police blocked the way to the main Avenue Habib Bourguiba, where the Interior Ministry building is located.
Some protesters threw bottles at police, while about 10 officers used batons to beat them back and stop them accessing the avenue, a Reuters witness said.
“They want to steal the principles won since the revolution,” said Mohammed Smida, a protester who compared Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi to former autocrat Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali, whose was ousted in 2011 after almost 25 years in power.
“Today our right to protest is threatened by the new Ben Ali,” Smida said.
Hundreds of Tunisians protest about police abuses
https://arab.news/j5w2j
Hundreds of Tunisians protest about police abuses
- Hundreds of riot police confronted the demonstrators, leading to scuffles
- Some protesters threw bottles, while police struck some demonstrators with batons
First responders enter devastated Aleppo neighborhood after days of deadly fighting
- The US-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Daesh group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s national army
ALEPPO, Syria: First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.
The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.
The US-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Daesh group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”
The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.
Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid Al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.
The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.
On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.
Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.
“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”
Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.
Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.
“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.
