A protest leader in southern Tunisia was released Wednesday, a lawyer said, four days after his arrest amid angry protests over unemployment in the marginalized region.
Tarek Haddad is the spokesman for a growing popular mobilization underway in Tataouine, a town where protesters are demanding authorities make good on a 2017 promise to provide jobs.
He had been arrested overnight on Saturday and charged with “participating in a gathering likely to disturb the peace.”
On Sunday and Monday, police in Tataouine clashed with protesters denouncing the government's unkept promises and demanding Haddad’s release.
Read more:
Marginalized southern Tunisia sees protesters clash with police over jobs, services
Renewed clashes in Tunisia’s deprived southern Tataouine region
Tunisia’s economy could shrink by as much as 7 percent: Official
A court in the town of Tataouine, accepted a request for activist Haddad’s release, one of his lawyers Sofiene Chariout told AFP.
“Overnight I find myself with detention orders and court cases,” Haddad told AFP by phone on his release from prison, adding that he believed the charges were aimed at hindering the protest movement.
For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app
For weeks, demonstrators have blocked roads and sought to prevent trucks from delivering supplies to the remote El-Kamour pumping station, a key site for Tunisia's small oil industry.
Southern Tunisia is one of the country’s most marginalized regions, with above average unemployment, failing infrastructure and a stunted private sector.
Also Read
-
Marginalized southern Tunisia sees protesters clash with police over jobs, services
Tunisian youths clashed with police overnight in a town in Tunisia’s deprived south, where a protest movement is demanding jobs and services, the ... North Africa -
Renewed clashes in Tunisia’s deprived southern Tataouine region
Protesters demanding jobs and the release of an activist in Tunisia’s marginalized south clashed Monday with security forces for a second straight day ... North Africa -
Protesters demanding jobs in Tunisia’s energy sector clash with police
Tunisians demanding jobs in the country’s energy sector blocked roads with blazing tires on Sunday after the arrest of an activist, as security forces ... North Africa -
Tunisia’s economy could shrink by as much as 7 percent: Official
Tunisia’s economy could shrink by up to 7 percent this year because of the effects of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the investment minister said on ... Coronavirus
