Protesters torch office of Tunisia's ruling Islamist party

PanARMENIAN.Net - Protesters clashed with police on Wednesday, Nov 27, and torched an office of Tunisia's ruling Islamist party, as strikes degenerated into violence in two marginalised towns, amid rising discontent and political deadlock, AFP reported.

The regions of Siliana, Gafsa and Gabes ground to a halt as strikes were observed to protest against poverty and lack of development.

Those were driving factors behind the popular uprising that toppled veteran strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali nearly three years ago and sparked revolutions across the region.

In Siliana, southwest of Tunis, dozens of demonstrators hurled rocks at police, who tried to disperse them by driving into the crowd and firing tear gas. The protesters placed burning tyres in the town center, where stones littered the streets and sporadic clashes continued into the early evening.

There were injuries among both protesters and police, said an AFP photographer, who was himself hit on the head by a stone, according to the agency.

In the poor central region of Gafsa, police fired tear gas to scatter protesters trying to break into the governor's office, with hundreds of people then attacking the headquarters of the ruling Islamist party Ennahda. The protesters torched the office and prevented fire crews from gaining access.

"The people want the fall of the regime," the protesters chanted, taking up the slogan of the 2011 uprisings.

Similar protests have seen Ennahda offices attacked in other provincial towns in recent months.

Social grievances have multiplied across Tunisia, whose sluggish economic recovery has failed to create jobs or spur regional development, adding to a sense of growing turmoil just weeks before the third anniversary of the first Arab Spring uprising.

Siliana was also marking the first anniversary of violence that left more than 300 people injured, when anti-government demonstrations exploded into days of running clashes between police and protesters.

The local branch of the powerful UGTT workers' confederation, which organized the strike, accused the government of failing to honor its promise to look after the injured and boost the region's economic development.

The catalyst for the industrial action in Gafsa and Gabes was a government decision not to include them in the list of regions where five new university-linked hospitals are to be built. The strike organizers have held the decision up as an example of the government's neglect of certain regions, another grievance that motivated the uprising three years ago.

Gafsa is economically important because of its phosphate mines, but remains among the poorest regions in Tunisia despite its natural wealth, and has experienced sporadic social unrest in recent months.

Since the revolution, phosphate production has slumped because of disruptions caused by strikes and protests, and despite thousands of people being hired in the state-run sector as part of government efforts to defuse social tensions.

The economic malaise and political deadlock gripping Tunisia has fuelled discontent, along with a rise in attacks by Islamist militants, whom many accuse Ennahda of failing to rein in.

The country was plunged into crisis in July with the killing of opposition leader Mohamed Brahmi by suspected jihadists, triggering calls for the resignation of the Ennahda-led coalition government.

Under an ambitious roadmap brokered by mediators last month, Ennahda and the opposition pledged to negotiate an interim government of independents. But the talks were suspended shortly afterwards with the two sides unable to agree on a new prime minister.