Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Tunis on Saturday to protest against racism and a “fascist” discourse against migrants from sub-Saharan African countries, asking President Kais Saied to apologize to this community. Several testimonies from migrants recount arbitrary arrests, evictions from their homes and racist attacks. Report by Lilia Blaise and Hamdi Tlili.
“Solidarity with undocumented migrants!” Chanted hundreds of protesters in the streets of Tunis on Saturday, February 25, to protest against racism after President Kaïs Saïed’s statements, deemed shocking by the African Union. The Tunisian president said on Tuesday that the presence of nationals of sub-Saharan African countries in Tunisia was a source of “violence, crimes and unacceptable acts”.
“More than ever, we need to be united,” says Ameni Jenana, project manager for the association Avocats sans frontières. “We are really in a state of emergency.”
The situation is worrying: several testimonies from migrants relate arbitrary arrests, but also expulsions from their homes and racist attacks. On Friday, our journalists Lilia Blaise and Hamdi Tlili met a group of sub-Saharan migrants whose house was ransacked on Thursday night by two Tunisians, according to initial reports.
A climate of panic is also setting in among sub-Saharan students who have their residence permit. “The atmosphere is very sad in the Ivorian student community,” reports Michael Elie Bio Vamet, president of the Ivorian students’ association. “The students are scared and cloistered at home.”
Source: France 24
