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Young people from a working class neighbourhood of Tunisia protested for a week against police violence after one of their own died on October 14, in clashes that saw around 30 people arrested. In recent years, the Tunisian Human Rights League has recorded nearly 20 cases of young people who died in suspicious circumstances during altercations with the police.
Young people in Tunisia are demanding justice for Omar Labidi, a football fan who drowned in a river in 2018 while trying to escape a police patrol. His trial has been dragging on for almost four years.
Labidi’s case is not an isolated one. In Hay Etthadamen, another working class neighbourhood, young people took to the streets every night this past week to protest against police violence after 24-year-old Malek Sellimi, one of their own, died on October 14.
Following the scuffles this past week, the Tunisian Interior Ministry made around 30 arrests. Sellimi had recorded a video in which he spoke about the police abuse he suffered before falling into a coma. One of his friends, who prefers to remain anonymous, expresses his dismay: "We have confidence in justice, we want Malek's right to fair justice to be recognised."
And the case is far from over. Sayida Ayari is waiting for her brother Fourath, who was close to Sellimi and witnessed the circumstances of his death, to be released. He was arrested at his home and is currently being questioned by the police.
"Yesterday, I spent an hour at the Gorjani police station asking where my brother was," says Sayida Ayari. "Each time I was given a different version … I have no news of him, I really feel that they are trying to put pressure on him, to intimidate him."
In recent years, the Tunisian Human Rights League has recorded nearly 20 cases of young people who died in suspicious circumstances during altercations with the police.
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Artmotion S.Africa
