Tunisia imposes nationwide curfew after violent job protests
Kasserine: Tunisian President has vowed to end the cycle of unrest that has pummeled towns across the country as authorities imposed a nationwide curfew five years after the nation, convulsed by protests, overthrew its longtime ruler and moved onto the road to democracy.
President Beji Caid Essebsi yesterday warned that Tunisia could fall prey to Islamic State group militants in neighbouring Libya profiting from the instability.
The violent demonstrations over unemployment opened a new front of concern for Tunisia, already struggling from a foundering economy and the threat of terrorism after three major attacks last year.
The week of increasingly violent demonstrations was triggered Sunday when a young man who was turned down for a government job climbed a transmission tower in protest and was electrocuted.
His death had unsettling resonance: The suicide five years ago of another unemployed youth set off the popular uprising that overthrew Tunisia’s autocratic leader, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and gave rise to the “Arab Spring” uprisings.
