Dozens of African immigrants were expelled from Sfax. The Tunisian city witnessed new violence after a citizen was killed in the clashes. Hundreds of residents gathered in several neighborhoods of this large city in central-eastern Tunisia in the streets, demanding the immediate departure of all illegal immigrants.
Some blocked streets and set tires on fire to express their anger after a 41-year-old citizen was stabbed to death during clashes, late night Monday to Tuesday 4 July, with migrants from Cameroon, according to the authorities.
sequel after announcement
In videos circulating on social media, police officers can be seen chasing dozens of migrants from their homes to the cheers of townspeople, before loading them into police cars.
Residents with sticks
Others showed migrants lying on the ground with their hands on their heads and residents surrounded by sticks, waiting for the police to arrive.
Via the Facebook page of the local group Cybe Trotwar, dedicated to the issue of illegal immigration, Azhar Naji, who works in the emergency room of a hospital in Sfax, shrugs. “An inhuman (…) bloody night”.
He stated that the hospital received between 30 and 40 immigrants, including women and children. “Some were thrown from the stands, others attacked with swords.”He said.
sequel after announcement
The Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES), which monitors migration issues, and more than 20 other Tunisian and international NGOs said in a joint statement that security forces arrested Tuesday “a group of 100 migrants and refugees” From the Sfax region towards the Libyan border.
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“The group includes several nationalities including Ivorian, Cameroonian and Guinean including at least 12 children between the ages of six months and five years.”According to the same source.
Some were immigrants “beating and abuse”NGOs that called on the authorities added “To provide clarifications regarding these facts and to intervene urgently to ensure the care of these people.”.
Flee from Sfax
Dozens of other migrants rushed to the Sfax railway station to catch trains to other Tunisian cities.
sequel after announcement
“There is a serious problem in Sfax, there is a sub-Saharan who killed a Tunisian and suddenly the Tunisian people are angry at all of the sub-Saharan and are attacking them, and even the Tunisian police are illegally trying to arrest all the sub-Saharans, to bring them back to the Libyan desert”One of them, Jonathan Chamu, a young Congolese, explained.
“We are really afraid of being here, which is why we want to leave Sfax at any cost.”Jonathan Chamo added, claiming that he comes to Tunisia regularly on a student visa.
“The Mediterranean has become a vast graveyard and the Tunisian authorities are doing nothing”
“Before Tunisia was a host country for us, we lived here comfortably but now we are not welcome, the solution is to cross the Mediterranean to go to Europe”is completed.
racial innuendo
The death, on Monday, of a resident of Sfax sparked a torrent of reactions, often with racist overtones, calling for the expulsion of African migrants from Sfax, the starting point for a slew of illegal sea crossings into Italy.
sequel after announcement
Tensions between locals and migrants escalated after a speech by President Kais Saied in February in which he criticized illegal immigration as a demographic threat to his country.
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Most of these immigrants come to Tunisia to try to reach Europe by sea, landing secretly on the Italian coasts.
Qais Saeed confirmed on Tuesday that Tunisia “It shall not admit into its territory anyone who does not respect its laws, nor be a transit country (to Europe) or a resettlement ground for citizens of some African countries.”.
