TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) 鈥 Hundreds of protesters in Tunisia's capital took to the streets on Saturday to denounce racism and express solidarity towards migrants after the country's increasingly authoritarian leader claimed there鈥檚 a plot to erase his country鈥檚 identity by bringing in sub-Saharan Africans.
People shouting 鈥渘o to racism,鈥 鈥渟olidarity with migrants鈥 and 鈥渘o to police crackdown鈥 marched through central Tunis as part of the demonstration staged by Tunisia鈥檚 journalists union and several nongovernmental organizations.
President Kais Saied said earlier this week that 鈥渦rgent measures鈥 were needed to address the entry of irregular immigrants from sub-Saharan countries, 鈥渨ith their lot of violence, crimes and unacceptable practices.鈥
The spokesperson for the Tunisian Forum for Social and Economic Rights, Romdhane Ben Amor, deplored an increasing number of racist assaults against sub-Saharan migrants following Saied's remarks.
鈥淲e noted attempts to drive some migrants out of their homes,鈥 he told The Associated Press. 鈥淥thers are being prevented from taking public transportation.鈥
Tunisian comedian Fatma Saidane denounced 鈥渄eplorable actions鈥 targeting some sub-Saharan people and called on people to show a civic-minded attitude.
鈥淲e must not assault or insult people who live on our soil, in the same way we don鈥檛 accept our compatriots to be ill-treated in Europe,鈥 she said.
In recent days, about 100 sub-Saharan migrants have been detained for having illegally crossed the Tunisian border, according to Riadh Nouioui, the deputy prosecutor of Kasserine, a mountainous region close to Algeria. Other migrants enter the country from neighbouring Libya.
Saied鈥檚 comments raised from NGOs. Tunisia, once lauded as the only budding democracy in the Arab world, has recently also seen a crackdown on opposition politicians and activists.
