Clashes erupted in one of three Tunisian cities where tens of thousands of people demonstrated today over their declining economic situation, calling for greater investment in their impoverished regions.
Dozens of protesters attempted to storm government offices in the southern mining town of Gafsa before being driven back by tear gas. They later ransacked the local headquarters of the moderate Islamist Ennahda party that dominates the government, tossing the furniture out the third story windows and setting it alight in the street while crowds cheered.
General strikes were called in the northwestern city of Siliana, Gafsa and in Gabes, which is along the southeastern coast, calling for greater government investment. Witnesses reported that all shops and cafes were closed.
Tunisia kicked off the Arab Spring by overthrowing its dictator in 2011, partly over the lack of jobs of young people, especially in the impoverished interior. Nearly three years after the revolution, however, the elected Islamist-led government has been unable to jump-start the economy or redress the historic inequalities between the wealthier coast and the poorer interior.
"We live in desperate conditions because of unemployment, poverty and misery and we are only asking to live in dignity," said Badreddine Hamlaoui, a 19 year-old who lost an eye to birdshot during protests in Siliana exactly one year ago. "I ask myself why Siliana is neglected and excluded from development."
The timing of today's strikes was to mark the one-year anniversary of the Siliana protests when people marched to call for a new provincial governor and were dispersed by police wielding shotguns. At least 332 people were wounded, many partially blinded by the birdshot.
According to the National Institute of Statistics, unemployment is already a high 15.7 per cent in the country, but in places like Siliana or Sidi Bouzid, where the revolution first began when a young fruit vendor set himself on fire, it rises to 20-29 per cent double that for young people.
"We continue to be forgotten and marginalised because of the policies of the current government," said Mohammed Miraoui, head of the local labour union branch in Gafsa. "From one day to another, the economic and social situation is deteriorating with not a single project from the 2012 budget even implemented.
