By Delphine Minoui Suddenly, chaos. Emerging from a cloud of tear gas, which grows on the streets of Marseilles, a man yells to passers-by to take refuge in the cafes. The metal shutters are closed immediately behind. A few yards away, the Avenue Bourguiba is lost in a cacophony of bursts of automatic weapons, fired warning shots, sirens and car screaming. On the floor, trash cans were overturned. Parked in front of a shop, a car was completely stripped of its windows. Debris littered the ground, trampled by all those young people who are fleeing the beatings. Attacking whom? Why? How?
Tunis, capital of the proud "jasmine revolution" of January 14, now invading neighboring countries shows, this Saturday, a day after mine failed party. "We want democracy, we won the anarchy," lamented a student, his eyes reddened by the gas, before passing out. Tunisia, however, seemed to have finally found a semblance of normality after a few own infancy post-revolutionary muzzled all countries who suddenly is free from the shackles of dictatorship.
Upon my return to Tunis on Wednesday for a new series of reports, I immediately saw all these traffic jams, the crowded stores, the hordes of kids auxvisages and playful babies who binders back, trot back to school happily. These are all signs that seemed indicative of a country that is recovering slowly from the tumult. Or at least trying.
It's Friday, precisely, it started to tilt. On the square of the Kasbah, the massive demonstration of some 100 000 people, started on facebook, has yet that day, the look good child. "Ghannouchi liberates! "Shout aloud to the students head, flocked to demand the resignation of Prime Minister, whom they accuse of being too formatted by the former regime. They say they do not understand why the Ben Ali are not yet considered, why the government does not communicate enough with the people, why some ex-employees still occupy their posts. They demand the establishment of an assembly that would draft a new constitution and want the dissolution of the bicameral Parliament. Their revolt is still peaceful. By late afternoon, a group splits up and goes to the Ministry of Interior, Avenue Bourguiba. The "Champs Elysees of Tunis then quickly turn into a theater of clashes between protesters on one side and police on the other. Stones were thrown at the Ministry, shops looted, ransacked police stations. The police and the police violently replicate. The same evening, we learn the death of a young demonstrator 18.
After a short night, the battle resumed with a vengeance. But the faces, the anger has given way to confusion. Many demonstrators who do not understand all these "excesses", wondering if the old militia of Ben Ali would not now enjoy the tensions between some of the people in power transition to sow discord. "All kinds of rumors," worries one protester. "The lack of communication from the Government only fuels confusion "He says. By Friday evening, authorities have however sought to introduce some measures: the holding of elections no later than mid-July 2011, the freezing of assets of 110 people linked to former power and recruitment in the public . Heard promises, but insufficient, according to the slogans, always biased against the transitional government.
Tonight helicopters raze the sky. The curfew was officially lifted on 15 February. But the downtown streets are deserted. The Ministry of Interior has announced that traffic on Avenue Bourguiba was prohibited pedestrians and cars until tomorrow, Sunday, midnight. In a statement, he also states that three people died in clashes that day. Also according to the Ministry, 100 people were arrested that day, and "88 other perpetrators of acts of vandalism were arrested the day before."
photo credit: AP
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