Protests Resume In Tunis With Demands For Cabinet's Resignation - Reports

CAIRO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th January, 2021) Police fired tear gas as clashes resumed in the Tunisian capital on Tuesday, with demonstrators demanding the government's resignation, Mosaique FM reported.

According to the radio station, young people and families of those killed and injured during the 2011 Jasmine Revolution, as well as several politicians and lawmakers, planned to march along central Habib Bourguiba avenue.

The demonstrators reportedly carried banners with calls to overthrow the government and release those detained during protests across the country.

Police discharged tear gas, preventing a part of the protesters from moving to the central avenue where they planned to demand the release of those detained in front of the interior ministry's building.

Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, meanwhile, said at a meeting with the interior ministry that the acts of violence and damage to public and private property in the country had nothing to do with peaceful protests, and condemned calls for anarchy on social networks, stressing that they would be tackled in accordance with the law.

Nationwide demonstrations broke out in the country last week as the government imposed a new coronavirus lockdown. The unrest also coincides with the 10th anniversary of the 2011 Jasmine Revolution, with the protesters expressing frustration over the alleged lack of political and economic reforms a decade on. On Monday, the interior ministry reported that 877 rioters had been detained during the mass protests. The majority of those detained are under 25 years old.