Am 13.08.2012 fand in Tunis die angekündigte Demonstration für Frauenrechte und Gleichberechtigung statt – Über 10.000 Personen, überwiegend Frauen, haben sich beteiligt. Das Demonstrationsverbot auf der zentralen Av. Habib Bourguiba wurde weitgehend durchgesetzt. Gleichzeitig wurde in Sfax (2.500 Personen) und anderen Städten demonstriert.
Am 14.08.2012 fand in der Region Sidi Bouzid, im Landesinneren, ein Generalstreik mit Demonstration statt. Gefordert wird die Absetzung der Ennahda-Regionalregierung, Einkommensmöglichkeiten für die völlig verarmte Bevölkerung und die sofortige Freilassung von 8 Personen, die bei der Repressionswelle in der letzten Woche festgenommen wurden.
Erstmals seit den Revolutionstagen ist die internationale Presse bei den Protesten anwesend.
Recherchegruppe Aufstand, 15.08.2012:
Solidaritätsdemo in Sidi Bouzid für die Festgenommenen
Nach Angaben von AktivistInnen beteiligten sich zwischen 1000 und 2000 Menschen an einer Demonstration zum Gerichtsgebäude in Sidi Bouzid, in dem die Gerichtsverhandlungen gegen die jüngst Fststgenommenen begannen. Allein bei den Auseinandersetzungen am vergangenen Donnerstag waren 45 Demonstranten festgenommen worden.
Die Demonstranten durchbrachen Bullenabsperrungen und obwohl die Bullen Schüsse in die Luft abgaben, gelangten etliche der Demonstranten in den Gerichtssaal, indem die Verhandlung gegen die Festgenommenen stattfanden. Die Gerichtsverhandlung wurde daraufhin auf heute vertagt
Zu den Mitorganisatoren der Demo gehörte die örtliche Sektion der General Tunisian Workers’ Union (UGTT). Diese hatte ebenfalls für gestern zu einem örtlichen Genralstreik aufgerufen, der nach Angaben der Organisatoren „zu 90 %“ befolgt worden sei.
Hintergrund der seit Wochen anhaltenden sozialen Proteste und riots ist die katastrophale wirtschaftliche Situation vor allem im Landesinneren von Tunesien.
Ausgelöst von Versorgungsproblemen bei Wasser und Strom wurden in den vergangenen Wochen Überlandsstrassen blockiert, Gebäude der Regierung und örtlichen Verwaltung, sowie der regierenden Ennadah Partei angegriffen.
Auf den Protestaktionen der vergangenen Wochen wurde immer wieder der Rücktritt des Ennadah Gouvernours Mohamed Najib, sowie eine „zweite Revolution“ gefordert.
http://uprising.blogsport.de/2012/08/15/solidaritaetsdemo-in-sidi-bouzid-fuer-die-festgenommenen/
Strike paralyses Tunisian town that sparked revolt
Some 2,000 protesters demonstrated against the Islamist leaders of Tunisia’s ruling
coalition during a general strike Tuesday in Sidi Bouzid, calling for the release of
dozens of activists and for improvements in water and electricity infrastructure.
AFP – Thousands of protesters demonstrated against Tunisia’s ruling Islamist party
during a general strike Tuesday in Sidi Bouzid, hub of the 2011 uprising, an AFP
journalist reported.
Residents of Sidi Bouzid were among up to 2,000 members of the political opposition
and trade unions, as well as civil society groups and employer organisations, to
march on the court house on the outskirts of the town.
They shouted slogans including: „The people want the fall of the regime!“ and
„Justice, woe to you, Ennahda has power over you!“ in reference to the moderate
Islamist party that heads Tunisia’s ruling coalition after winning elections last
October.
After gathering at around 1100 GMT outside the heavily-protected court house, they
dispersed peacefully.
In the town centre, offices and shops were shut, with only the butchers staying open
to allow customers to prepare for the iftar evening meal, in which observant Muslims
break their daytime fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
The strike in Sidi Bouzid had been called by Tunisia’s main trade union
confederation, the UGTT, to pressure the government to release dozens of activists
detained since July, and to develop the marginalised region, where water and power
cuts are common.
„The general strike has had a following of more than 90 percent,“ said Ali Kahouli,
spokesman for the December 17 Front, one of the organising groups.
The protesters had denounced the authorities for suppressing recent protests and
called for the release of activists who were arrested last week during demonstrations
that were dispersed by police firing tear gas and rubber bullets.
According to a group of defence lawyers, ten of those arrested were freed on Tuesday.
And in the Sfax region, around 260 kilometres (160 miles) south of Tunis, another 12
activists arrested at a protest late last week were discharged on Monday and Tuesday,
according to their lawyers.
Four trade unionists were also freed, after being detained in the same region for a
month.
But Kahouli insisted that was not enough.
„We demand the immediate release of all those detained… and the opening of the file
on regional development and employment,“ he said.
Government spokesman Samir Dilou said the strike was unjustified, and criticised the
opposition for exploiting legitimate social grievances.
„I don’t think the call for a general strike is justified… I think there are only
political considerations here, with political parties involved,“ Dilou, who is also
human rights minister, told private radio Mosaique FM.
Dilou acknowledged that „difficult living conditions in certain regions“ pushed
people to take to the streets, and pledged that the government would address those
hardships with „understanding.“
Some protesters had smashed the window of a car belonging to an Al-Jazeera TV crew —
the Qatar-based satellite news channel is accused by government critics of supporting
Ennahda — but otherwise no violence was reported on Tuesday.
Tunisia’s Islamist-led government has faced growing dissent in recent weeks.
On Monday thousands of people demonstrated in the capital Tunis for women’s rights,
in the biggest show of force by the opposition since April.
The central town of Sidi Bouzid is the birthplace of the 2011 uprising that toppled
strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and touched off the Arab Spring revolts that rocked
autocratic regimes across the region.
The Tunisian uprising was triggered when a street vendor torched himself in December
2010 in protest over his precarious livelihood.
The town is located in a particularly marginalised region, and analysts warn that
poor living conditions and high youth unemployment there and elsewhere — driving
factors behind the revolution — have improved little since.
Source:
http://iphone.france24.com/en/20120814-thousands-tunisians-take-islamists-general-strike-sidi-bouzid