Hundreds of protesters in the Tunisian capital took to the streets on Saturday to denounce racism and express their solidarity with migrants after the country’s increasingly authoritarian leader claimed there is a conspiracy to erase his country’s identity by killing Africans from countries south of the Sahara.
People in central Tunis chanted “no to racism”, “solidarity with migrants” and “no to police repression” during a demonstration organized by the Tunisian journalists’ union and various NGOs.
President Kais Saied said earlier this week that “urgent action” was needed to tackle the influx of illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa “with so much violence, crime and unacceptable practices”.
A spokesman for Tunisia’s Forum for Social and Economic Rights, Ramadan Ben Amor, lamented the increase in racist attacks on immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa following Said’s comments.
“We have seen attempts to remove some migrants from their homes,” he told the Associated Press. Others are forbidden to use public transport.
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Tunisian comedian Fatma Saidane denounced the “unfortunate actions” against some residents of sub-Saharan Africa and urged people to be civil.
Around 100 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa have been arrested in recent days for illegally crossing the Tunisian border, according to Riadh Nouioui, deputy prosecutor in Kasserine, a mountainous region near Algeria. Other migrants are coming into the country from neighboring Libya.
Said’s comments sparked a storm on social media and criticism from NGOs. Tunisia, once hailed as the only emerging democracy in the Arab world, has also recently seen a crackdown on opposition politicians and activists.
