This Tuesday, April 11, the Tunisian police tried to dislodge dozens of migrants from the surroundings of the premises of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Tunis. Nigeriens, Sudanese, Guineans or even Ivorians had found refuge in this district of Tunis which houses, in addition to the UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
With our correspondent in Tunis, Amira Souilem
Migrants seek international protection after some lose jobs and homes to the controversial speeches of the Tunisian presidentKais Saïed, on their presence on national soil last February. One of them, a 17-year-old Guinean, still can’t believe it. Phone in hand, he watches the videos he has shot himself. ” I tried to shoot some videos. But I couldn’t do much. There was a lot of gas. It was hard. The Sudanese were throwing stones. The cops were just shooting gas “, he describes.
Migrants harassed by the police
Sticks and stones in hand, migrants and asylum seekers attack what they find. Windshields and car windows are shattered. The surroundings of the premises of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are devastated.
The violence exploded as the Tunisian police tried to dislodge them in a muscular way. For several days, these migrants have said they have been harassed by the police. A fear that now redoubles. ” We are afraid that the citizens will come and attack us here. We are there, but we don’t feel comfortable because there was damage up there. So, we are afraid that citizens will come and attack us because they don’t know who has committed violence and who hasn’t. “, assures one of them.
Eighty arrests took place following these clashes. The Ministry of the Interior specified that the dislodging of the migrants had taken place at the request of the UNHCR office in Tunis.
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