Scores of people gathered in several parts of Tunisia’s capital late on Thursday to protest the killing of two people in separate security incidents as well as deteriorating living conditions.
The protests grew and quickly turned into clashes with security forces, while police used tear gas to disperse protesters.
The violence spilled out into the Ettadhamen neighbourhood of Tunis, as people expressed anger over the death of a man who was arrested by police on suspicion of drug dealing.
However, his family said he was subjected to violence at the hands of the police, causing his death, and demanded that those responsible for his killing be held accountable.
Local media have reported that the man died after swallowing drugs.
The protesters blocked roads in the neighbourhood, set alight rubber tyres and threw stones at security forces.
According to local media, security forces were deployed to the area when the clashes broke out.
In the south of the country, clashes broke out in the town of Jebniana, following the death of a man whose relatives say died during a police chase.
Protesters set fire to a police vehicle, while further clashes took place in the nearby city of Agareb.
Elsewhere in the Sfax governorate, students demonstrated against a student dying from a heart attack, with many accusing ambulance crews of being slow to respond. The protest shortly after grew into a bigger demonstration against the lack of medical facilities in the country.
University students have since called for a strike across higher education institutions on Friday.
The developments come amid a worsening economic, social and political crisis in Tunisia, as well as escalating public anger over worsening living conditions and declining public services.
Last week, thousands of Tunisians took part in a large-scale demonstration in the capital, which has been determined to be the largest in the country against President Kais Saied in years.
Protesters accuse him of undermining democracy and failing to manage the economic crisis in the country.
Human rights activists have also highlighted his expansion of his powers in 2021 and 2022, the dissolving parliament, and dismissing dozens of judges. They have also documented authorities increasingly clamping down on civil society and journalists.
