Tunisian youths demand 'jobs or revolution' as protests grow 

First death reported in growing demonstrations against poverty in Tunisia, five years after 2011 uprising
Tunisians protest on 20 January 2016 in Tunis (AFP)

Linah Alsaafin-Thursday 21 January 2016

Tunisian police fired tear gas at protesters as they tried to storm local government buildings in several towns in the third day of growing protests over unemployment.

Several thousand youths were reportedly demonstrating on Thursday outside government offices in Kasserine, an impoverished town where a young graduate died at the weekend while protesting about his joblessness.

Police also reportedly clashed with protesters in Jamdouba, Beja and Skira, and in Sidi Bouzid, where youths chanted "jobs or another revolution," according to state media and witnesses.

The government meanwhile confirmed that a police officer was killed when protesters attacked his car on Wednesday in Feriana, in the Kasserine region. Unrest elsewhere left about 40 people injured during clashes between police and protesters. 

The demonstrations began at the weekend in Kasserine when Ridha Yahyaoui, a 28-year-old unemployed graduate from the town, was electrocuted after climbing a power pole to protest at being refused a state job.

The protests come almost exactly five years after Tunisia’s 2011 uprising, which demanded the overthrow of the government and succeeded in removing then president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali who had ruled the country for three decades.

The Tunisian Nawaat blog reported demonstrations in 16 provinces of Tunisia, although MEE cannot confirm this information.

- See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/fresh-protests-tunisia-erupt-over-unemployment-and-poverty-1253106075#sthash.wZyf7Tpe.dpuf