UN Condemns ‘Repeated Violations’ by Tunisian Police After Week of Anti-Brutality Protests

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UN Condemns ‘Repeated Violations’ by Tunisian Police After Week of Anti-Brutality Protests

Protests in Tunis have entered their sixth day after a young man died in police custody on Tuesday following a severe beating by police that was filmed and posted on social media. The Interior Ministry has denied responsibility, but the UN and human rights groups say the police have yet to fully reform following the 2011 revolution.

On Monday, the United Nations human rights office in Tunisia criticized the conduct of Tunisian police after nearly a week of protests set off by a video posted on social media of Tunis police beating a young man to death.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) said that “serious and repeated violations since the beginning of the year reveal continuing dysfunctions within the internal security services,” according to Reuters.

​Protesters have thrown sticks, water bottles, fireworks, and other objects at police, who have responded with tear gas and the arrests of several dozen people. According to AFP, a prominent part of the demonstrations have been the mothers of other victims of police violence.

Tunisia’s independent High Human Rights Commission on Thursday said that incidents like those in Sidi Hassine risk undermining “confidence in the state and its institutions.”

These protests follow demonstrations earlier this month sparked by an announcement that the prices of basic goods would rise.

A 2018 report by a DC-based think tank found that while police reform was a major demand behind the 2011 protests that brought down President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s regime and sparked the Arab Spring protests, there have been no serious attempts at reform and “torture and other police abuse have continued with impunity.”

Neoliberal economic reforms weakened Tunisia’s economy and the COVID-19 pandemic sent it into a tailspin, with gross domestic product shrinking by 8.9% in 2020 and unemployment reaching as high as 18%. In the first quarter of 2021, the economy shrank a further 3%, according to the Tunisian State Statistics Institute, while foreign debt is now 100% of the GDP, or 100 billion dinars (€30 billion).

Sourse: sputniknews.com

UN Condemns ‘Repeated Violations’ by Tunisian Police After Week of Anti-Brutality Protests

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