TUNIS: A man set himself on fire in front of the Grand Synagogue in the Tunisian capital and was killed by police, the Interior Ministry said. A police officer and a passerby suffered burns.
The man started the fire after sundown Friday, around the time the synagogue holds Sabbath prayers.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement that the man advanced toward a law enforcement officer while ablaze, and a second officer opened fire to protect his colleague. The officer was hospitalized with burns, as was a passerby, the statement said.
The ministry did not release the man’s identity or potential motive for his act, saying only that he had unspecified psychiatric disorders.
Tunisia was historically home to a large Jewish population, now estimated to number about 1,500 people. Jewish sites in Tunisia have been targeted in the past.
A national guardsman killed five people at the 2,600-year-old El-Ghriba synagogue on the island of Djerba after an annual pilgrimage in 2023. Later that year, pro-Palestinian protesters vandalized a historic synagogue and sanctuary in the southern town of El Hamma. And a garden was set ablaze last year outside the synagogue in the coastal city of Sfax.
Tunisia’s recent history was also marked by the self-immolation of a street vendor in 2010 in a protest linked to economic desperation, corruption and repression. Mohamed Bouazizi’s act unleashed mass protests that led to the ouster of Tunisia’s autocratic ruler and uprisings across the region known as the Arab Spring.
Police kill a man who set himself on fire outside a Tunisian synagogue
https://arab.news/b8jrh
Police kill a man who set himself on fire outside a Tunisian synagogue
- The man advanced toward a law enforcement officer while ablaze, and a second officer opened fire to protect his colleague
- The officer was hospitalized with burns, as was a passerby
Tunisian police clash with youths in Kairouan after man’s death
- Tunisia President Kais Saied shut down parliament and began ruling by decree in 2021 in what he called a move to root out rampant corruption and mismanagement, but which the opposition called a coup
TUNIS: Clashes erupted for a second night on Saturday between police and youths in the central Tunisian city of Kairouan after a man died following a police chase, according to his family, fueling authorities’ fears that protests could spread across the country. As Tunisia prepares to mark the January anniversary of the 2011 revolution, which sparked the Arab Spring uprising, tensions have risen amid protests, and a powerful UGTT union call for a nationwide strike next month. Thousands have been protesting for weeks in the southern city of Gabes, demanding the closure of a chemical plant on environmental grounds.
Witnesses said demonstrators in Kairouan threw stones, petrol bombs and flares, and blocked streets by burning tires, prompting police to disperse crowds with tear gas.
The family said the man, riding a motorcycle without a license, was chased by police, beaten, and taken to a hospital. He later fled and died on Friday from a head injury.
The government was not immediately available to comment. Relatives of the deceased said they will not remain silent and will spark major protests if those responsible are not held accountable.
In a bid to defuse tensions, Kairouan’s governor visited the family on Saturday evening and pledged to open an investigation to determine the circumstances of the death and establish accountability, witnesses said.
Tunisia President Kais Saied shut down parliament and began ruling by decree in 2021 in what he called a move to root out rampant corruption and mismanagement, but which the opposition called a coup.
Rights groups accuse Saied of using the judiciary and police to stifle criticism, something that Saied denies.
