protesters - The African Mirror

Mar

2021

Tunisian police fire tear gas on protesters in southern city

TUNISIAN police fired tear gas on protesters yesterday after hundreds tried to storm a government headquarters in the southern city of Tataouine to protest against the government's failure to provide jobs, witnesses said. Protesters are calling on the government to implement a 2017 deal to create jobs in oil companies and infrastructure projects to reduce unemployment now running at 30% in the region, one of the highest rates in Tunisia. The protests increase pressure on the government, which is suffering a political crisis from a power struggle between Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and President Kais Saied. Tunisia saw violent protests…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Tunisian police fire water cannons as protesters

NEWS

TAREK AMARA TUNISIAN riot police turned water cannons on protesters outside the heavily barricaded parliament as they tried to quell the largest rally yet since demonstrations began this month over inequality and police abuses. Hundreds of protesters had marched from the Ettadhamen district of the capital where young people have clashed nightly with police for more than a week, and were joined by hundreds more near the parliament. Police blocked the march with barricades to prevent protesters approaching the parliament building where lawmakers were holding a tense debate on a controversial government reshuffle. "The government that only uses police to…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Splintered coalition reflects fate of Egypt’s uprising a decade on

HUMAN RIGHTS

AIDAN LEWIS and MAHMOUD MOURAD TEN years ago protesters surged onto Egypt's streets, emboldened by the success of Tunisia's Arab Spring uprising. Some young activists formed the Revolution Youth Coalition to draw together the uprising's disparate strands and give the protesters occupying Cairo's Tahrir Square a coherent voice. They demanded freedom, dignity, democracy and social justice amid battles with police and state-hired thugs, and on February 11 President Hosni Mubarak resigned. But the coalition fragmented as it faced two much more established forces: the Muslim Brotherhood that swept to power in later elections, and the military that toppled it in…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

“The people want the fall of the regime”

NEWS

PROTESTERS have rallied in Tunisia's capital after several nights of street violence, reviving the chant that rang a decade ago in a revolution that brought in democracy: "the people want the fall of the regime". Daytime protests in Tunis and some other cities demanding jobs, dignity and the release of detainees have followed clashes over recent nights between security forces and youths, as COVID-19 restrictions add to wider economic malaise. "The whole system must go... We will return to the streets and we will regain our rights and our dignity that a corrupt elite seized after the revolution," said Maher…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Nigeria’s police chief mobilises to quell worst unrest in two decades

NEWS

ANGELA UKOMADU NIGERIA'S police chief ordered the immediate mobilisation of all force resources to try to control the worst street violence in Africa's most populous country in two decades stemming from protests against police brutality. The unrest, unprecedented since the 1999 return to civilian rule, is the most serious political crisis confronting President Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler elected in 2015. Curfews have been imposed on millions of people in recent days in response to violence and looting in parts of the country. Violence, particularly in the commercial capital Lagos, escalated after demonstrators were shot on Tuesday night in…