Tunisian Police clash with protesters

On Monday, police fired teargas and used electric batons to disperse thousands of protesters who tried to storm Habib Bourguiba Avenue, where the government prohibited any kind of demonstrations.

Thousands gathered in an attempt to march on Tunis’s central Bourguiba Avenue to honor those killed in a bloody crackdown on pro-independence demonstrators by French colonial troops in 1838.

The interior ministry decided to ban rallies on Habib Bourguiba Avenue in late March after businesses in the area complained that the constant protests were snarling traffic and disrupting business.

In January 2011, popular protests led to the ouster of Western-backed dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and encouraged uprisings in the Arab states, namely Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Bourguiba Avenue was also the scene of massive protests during the revolution last year.

Tunisia’s first freely-elected government was sworn in late last year. However, the country still faces a soaring unemployment rate and sluggish economic growth.

PG/JR

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