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Twenty-one Tunisian organizations denounced what they called the police repression approach that targeted protesters in Friday’s demonstrations, blaming President Kais Saied and Interior Minister Tawfiq Sharaf El-Din for this, thus widening the circle of condemnation among parties and human rights bodies, while the president threatened those who are trying to bring down the state.
This came in a joint statement signed by these organizations and associations (all non-governmental), including the Tunisian Journalists Syndicate, the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women, Al-Bawsala and Lawyers Without Borders.
On Friday, protests took place in response to partisan calls, rejecting the actions of President Kais Saied and coinciding with the anniversary of the Tunisian revolution on January 14, 2011 that toppled the late President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
The Ministry of the Interior announced, in a statement, the use of water to disperse the demonstrators, to prevent their access to Habib Bourguiba Street in the center of the capital, for violating a government decision to prevent demonstrations on the pretext of the outbreak of the Corona virus.
And human rights sources told Al Jazeera that the Public Prosecution decided to arrest 15 demonstrators, including the resigned leader of the Dignity Coalition Party, Imad Dajeej, while ordering the release of 17 others, against the backdrop of Friday’s demonstrations on Habib Bourguiba Street.
“police repression”
The joint statement of the 21 organizations said: The organizations express their indignation at the approach of police repression that targeted the demonstrators on Friday, which constitutes a disgrace on the anniversary of the revolution.
He considered that this repression indicates that the authorities are seeking to control Tunisia with undemocratic and civil mechanisms that will only feed anger towards the security establishment and deepen the crisis between citizens and the state.
The organizations blamed the President of the Republic and the Minister of the Interior for this, and accused the security forces of arbitrary practices that affected hundreds of Tunisians, causing severe physical and psychological damage to dozens of them. They demanded the judicial authority to open an investigation into these practices.
For its part, the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights (The Independent) condemned, in a statement, the manner in which the authority dealt with the demonstrators.
And it considered that this method constitutes an unjustified excessive use of force, a limitation of public freedoms, and a retreat from the promises made by the presidencies of the Republic and the government regarding not to infringe on freedoms.
The association called for the immediate release of all detainees on the sidelines of the demonstration and the cessation of everything that would affect freedoms.
Denouncing parties and human rights organizations
The Tunisian Workers’ Party (left) warned of the escalation of the repression of freedom of expression in Tunisia since the “coup” of July 2021, and called in a statement on all democratic forces to confront what it described as “the repressive approach that was the brutal acts of violence imposed on the demonstrators (Friday). The capital is one of his hideous images.
For its part, the Tunisian Ennahda movement strongly condemned what it called “the attack on political symbols” and prevented demonstrators rejecting President Kais Saied’s measures from freely expressing their views.
A joint statement by the Republican Party, the Democratic Current and the Ettakatol party confirmed their intention to file a complaint with the Public Prosecution against the Minister of Interior, due to the severe assault and kidnapping of protesters, calling for an immediate investigation and their release.
For its part, the Democratic Current Party denounced the “systematic repression” and “the adaptation of the Ministry of the Interior to serve the coup authority.” He said in a statement that the party intends to file a complaint with the Public Prosecution against the Minister of Interior.
The National Authority for the Prevention of Torture recorded what it said was an excessive use of force against the protesters who went out in Friday’s demonstrations.
The Observatory of Rights and Freedoms in Tunisia also condemned what it called the material and moral violence and violations that a number of citizens were subjected to on Friday, and expressed its legal and human rights support for all victims and those affected.
For its part, the Tunisian Workers’ Party condemned the suspension of the party’s coordinator, Saad bin Hussein, and warned against the escalation of the repression of freedom of expression, and called on all democratic forces to confront what it described as the repressive approach.
press denunciation
The Tunisian Journalists Syndicate said that journalists and photographers were subjected to serious and unprecedented attacks by the security forces.
For its part, the French Liberation newspaper condemned the brutal beating of its correspondent in Tunisia, Mathieu Galetti, by the police while covering a demonstration against President Kais Saied. The newspaper said that its correspondent was prevented from covering the demonstration after the attack by the security forces.
In a statement, the Foreign Correspondents Club in North Africa condemned the acts of violence practiced by the security forces against journalists, and described what is happening to journalists in Tunisia as unprecedented violence since the establishment of the Foreign Correspondents Club in North Africa in 2014.
President’s reply
On the other hand, President Said rejected, during a government session, what he described as suspicious attempts to interfere in Tunisian affairs, and stressed the intolerance of those trying to overthrow the state.
These developments come as calls continue to demand the release of the Vice-President of the Ennahda Movement, Noureddine El-Beheiry, who is on the verge of death, according to a member of his defense staff.
President Said said that the Tunisian state is one, its people are one, and its laws are one, and he stressed – during his presidency of the cabinet meeting yesterday, Saturday – that those who try to overthrow the state or employ its facilities, which he said should remain public and impartial, will not be tolerated.
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