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Hundreds of protesters denounce racism in Tunisia

Hundreds of protesters in Tunisia's capital have taken to the streets to denounce racism and express solidarity towards migrants

Via AP news wire
Saturday 25 February 2023 20:23 GMT

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Hundreds of protesters in Tunisia's capital took to the streets on Saturday to denounce racism and express solidarity towards migrants after the country's increasingly authoritarian leader claimed thereā€™s a plot to erase his countryā€™s identity by bringing in sub-Saharan Africans.

People shouting ā€œno to racism,ā€ ā€œsolidarity with migrantsā€ and ā€œno to police crackdownā€ marched through central Tunis as part of the demonstration staged by Tunisiaā€™s journalists union and several nongovernmental organizations.

President Kais Saied said earlier this week that ā€œurgent measuresā€ were needed to address the entry of irregular immigrants from sub-Saharan countries, ā€œwith their lot of violence, crimes and unacceptable practices.ā€

The spokesperson for the Tunisian Forum for Social and Economic Rights, Romdhane Ben Amor, deplored an increasing number of racist assaults against sub-Saharan migrants following Saied's remarks.

ā€œWe noted attempts to drive some migrants out of their homes,ā€ he told The Associated Press. ā€œOthers are being prevented from taking public transportation.ā€

Tunisian comedian Fatma Saidane denounced ā€œdeplorable actionsā€ targeting some sub-Saharan people and called on people to show a civic-minded attitude.

ā€œWe must not assault or insult people who live on our soil, in the same way we donā€™t accept our compatriots to be ill-treated in Europe,ā€ she said.

In recent days, about 100 sub-Saharan migrants have been detained for having illegally crossed the Tunisian border, according to Riadh Nouioui, the deputy prosecutor of Kasserine, a mountainous region close to Algeria. Other migrants enter the country from neighbouring Libya.

Saiedā€™s comments raised a storm on social media and condemnation from NGOs. Tunisia, once lauded as the only budding democracy in the Arab world, has recently also seen a crackdown on opposition politicians and activists.

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