Around 25,000 citizens departed from the northern town of Siliana last week and headed for the capital, leaving behind an almost unpopulated town with the remains of burnt rubber wheels, stones scattered everywhere and empty gas cylinders lying in blocked streets.
After Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali declined to respond to the demands of Siliana’s residents to discharge its governor, they took a stand over their governante’s poverty, unemployment and marginalization, calling out “The revolution belongs to the poor, neither the governor nor Jebali!”
Around 25,000 citizens departed from the northern town of Siliana last week and headed for the capital, leaving behind an almost unpopulated town with the remains of burnt rubber wheels, stones scattered everywhere and empty gas cylinders lying in blocked streets.
After Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali declined to respond to the demands of Siliana’s residents to discharge its governor, they took a stand over their governante’s poverty, unemployment and marginalization, calling out “The revolution belongs to the poor, neither the governor nor Jebali!”
The march was completely symbolic since residents returned after they walked four kilometers away from Siliana, which witnessed a general strike as well as protests against the governor for over a week.
Siliana’s residents say they have been marginalized for more than 50 years and are still waiting for the proper governor to develop it and contribute to bridging the gap between Siliana and the country’s other regions.
Throughout last week, now empty squares witnessed violent clashes between enduring protestors and security members doing their best to disperse them.
Shotguns have not been used since independence
There have been 300 injuries, 18 physical disabilities and cases of blindness resulting from the use of shotguns, according to officials in Siliana Hospital.
Firing shotguns in Tunisia is forbidden, except in the case of hunting; however, the Ministry of Interior found it the most efficient in dispersing protestors, compared to water cannons and other weapons.
“Shotguns have never been used in independent Tunisia, nor in countries other than those with a long history of oppression,” according to the Tunisian EuroMed Youth Unit. “The use of shotguns and violent crimes committed against their people is a stigma in the history of Tunisia.”
“Dégage” or “leave” is no longer meaningful
The story started when a group of officers in the governorate’s headquarters could not peacefully force the governor out of his work place, calling “dégage” or “leave”, the magic word that has been used effectively since the revolution. Tunisians chanted this word the day Ben Ali fled, and it has helped discharge many of the former regime remnants from the Tunisian administration. This charged word seems to have expired the moment the prime minster said that the governor would maintain his position, in spite of the protests.
Jebali’s statement greatly provoked people, and they considered it a blatant challenge to their demands. Ahmed Chefii, Assistant Secretary General of the Regional Branch of Tunisia General Labor Union (UGTT) – the largest and oldest union in Tunisia – considered it a new stage of marginalizing Siliana and deriding its people.
UGTT called a second day of general strikes on November 27th, where a march within the city was organized and ended in violent clashes between protestors and security forces. UGTT described these attacks as brutal, deciding to stage an open general strike until three demands were met: the departure of the governor , considered by protestors as an obstacle to development, the release of 14 detainees in detention for more than 19 months because of their participation in protests and yet to face justice, and a government emergency meeting, attended by a UGTT representative, to develop a clear plan for the development of the governorate.
Ennahda stubbornness
Supporting the UGTT stance, a lot of people rallied in front of its headquarters early in the morning. Many human rights activists and leaders of popular parties supported the public movement, while the ruling Ennahda Party firmly clung to its position, claiming that protests were opposition-made and that participants were mere mercenaries, attributing the whole unrest to the dispute between two officers in the governorate’s headquarters: manager of the governor’s office, Ibrahim Znaqi, and the Secretary General of the Governorate’s Workers and Employees Union, Samira Farjawi.
The dispute was indeed cause for the governorate’s employees to stage an open strike on October 21st, supporting Farjawi and protesting against the governor, who went too far in ignoring the irregularities committed by his Office Manager, as officers reported.
Even though he confessed his verbal abuse of his colleague, the accused officer declined any physical abuse, describing what happened as a mere “conspiracy staged by left wing and union actors and an attack on the success achieved by the governor since he managed to spend more than 70% of the governorate’s development budget.”
UGTT has supported the strike because it considers Znaqi the rod with which the governor “hits” both people and officers. It also believes that the governorate’s development budget is smaller than budgets allocated by the government for neighboring governorates, such as Sidi Bouzid, though both governorates share many underdevelopment indicators, like an unemployment rate higher than 50% among university graduates, 23.3% at the level of Siliana Governorate, and 17.6% nationwide.
Government statements declining people’s demands and union movements turning into clashes between security forces and protestors, leaving many people injured have become a familiar scene in Siliana. Residents are still waiting for apologies from the government for having injured them during protests. The UGTT Administrative Board met on November 2nd and prepared a list of demands including the immediate departure of the governorate’s police forces and the appointment of a new governor who could positively and speedily respond to the people’s demands. Additionally, UGTT demanded that the government seriously addressed the governorate’s development issues in return for suspending the strike for 15 days.
The above-mentioned meeting was the result of a discussion made between the UGTT, people and civil society actors, regarding the findings of the negotiations held on December 1st with a government delegate.
The negotiations concluded the appointment of the first commissioner (the second regional official) as the governor, pending a decision to be taken in respect of the current governor, and the hastening of the trial proceedings of the detainees.
The government also declared its preparedness to meet civil and political society representatives in order to draw a clear road map for the improvement of the governorate’s situation, which pushed a protestor to say “we are no longer demanding development, but a caring centre for the blind” referring to the significant number of blindness cases resulting from clashes with the security forces use of shotguns.
