Protests over jobs spiral to other parts of Tunisia

Security forces rushed to Al Karm area in the capital to disperse crowds of job-seeking demonstrations after they set fire to several waste containers, spokesman for the Interior Ministry Walid Lougini said.

Also protesters set a police center and two cars in Hidera area ablaze.

The protests echoed the unrest that has been taking place in the impoverished town of Kasserine since Saturday following the death of a local man, a spokesman for the Interior Minister Walid Lougini said late on Wednesday.

Reda Yahyaoui, a young Kasserine resident, was electrocuted on Saturday after climbing a utility pole and threatening suicide in protest at his exclusion from a list of applicants for government jobs — reminiscent of the events in 2011 that set off the revolution.

In 2011, Mohamed Bouazizi, a young fruit seller, set himself on fire after being humiliated by a policewoman, leading to furious protests that quickly spread and developed into the revolution that overthrew Zein al Abidine Ben Ali and set off a chain reaction of Arab uprisings.

Source: MENA