Tunisians took to the streets on Monday in protest of the planned visit of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince to their country.
Tunisians took to the streets on Monday in protest of the planned visit of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince to their country.
As part of his first overseas tour since the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Mohammad bin Salman arrived in Egypt on Monday.
Though the Saudi Royal Court did not name other countries that bin Salman is due to visit, the crown prince is also expected to visit Tunisia, Algeria, and Mauritania.
Tunisian NGOs will stage protests on Monday against a planned visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the country."Civil society organizations will organize protests against bin Salman’s visit,” Sakina Abdel-Samad, a member of the National Union of Tunisian Journalists, told a press conference in capital Tunis.“We will also file a lawsuit over war crimes being committed in war-torn Yemen,” she said.Groups that plan the protests include the Association of Tunisian Newspaper Directors (Turess), the National Syndicate of Journalists, the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women of Tunisia, the Tunisian Forum on Economic and Social Rights, the Tunisian Young Lawyers Association and the Tunisian Women's Association.Tunisian union calls national strike to press wage demandsTunisian PM seeks realistic pay deal with unionAbdel-Samad said the Tunisian Journalists Syndicate had received a “thank-you message” from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) for its position against bin Salman's visit.Tunisia is part of bin Salman’s current tour, which started with visiting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last week.A poster of the Saudi crown prince holding a saw with slogans reading “Not Welcome in Tunisia, Land of Revolution” has been hung on the headquarters of the Journalists Syndicate in Tunis.Bin Salman’s tour is his first since Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and a columnist for The Washington Post, was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last month.After initially saying Khashoggi had left the consulate alive, weeks later the Saudi administration admitted he was killed there, blaming a rogue group of Saudi operatives.Tunisian activists call for protests over Saudi crown prince visitTunisians urge demonstrations ahead of bin Salman visit
Tunisia NGOs lead demos against bin Salman's visit
Tunisian rights groups on Monday will stage a protest against a visit of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, activists said.Tunisia is one of the few Arab states where demonstrations are allowed, following a 2011 uprising that toppled the president and gave its once-staid media a new lease of life.The Saudi crown prince is expected to arrive on Tuesday, part of a tour of several Arab countries on his first trip abroad since Khashoggi's murder, which has strained Saudi Arabia's ties with the West and battered his image abroad.Public anger greets bin Salman’s Arab tourA total of 13 Tunisian civic and rights groups, among them the journalists' union, will hold a protest in the afternoon at the central Habib Bourguiba avenue in Tunis, the venue of mass protests against the rule of Zine el-Abidine Ben Al in 2011."The Tunisian revolution.. cannot accept to receive him (bin Salman) and allow himself to clean himself (with his visit) of a murder," said Soukaina Abdessamad of the journalist' union told reporters. "We will stage protests on Monday and Tuesday."Saudi Arabia has said the crown prince had no prior knowledge of the killing of the Washington Post columnist at Riyadh's consulate in Istanbul last month.After offering numerous contradictory explanations, Riyadh said Khashoggi had been killed and his body dismembered when negotiations to persuade him to return to Saudi Arabia failed.Since the 2011 uprising that ended the rule of Ben Ali and triggered the Arab Spring protests that convulsed the region, Tunisia has become one of the few Arab countries where protests are permitted. 
Tunisia activists to protest against Saudi Crown prince visit
Hundreds of demonstrators swarmed the central Habib Bourguiba Avenue in Tunis, protesting the arrival by the crown prince following the announcement of his planned visit by Tunisian presidential spokeswoman Saida Garrach.
While Saudi Arabia has blamed the Oct. 2 killing of Khashoggi on a rogue hit squad, weeks of shifting explanations aroused suspicions. A CIA assessment earlier this month implicated bin Salman in the slaying.
After initially saying he had left the consulate alive, the Saudi administration admitted weeks later that he was killed there.
Tunisia was the birthplace of the "Arab Spring" uprisings that swept the Middle East and North Africa in early 2011 which overthrew the regime of the authoritarian ruler, Zein Al Abidine Ben Ali.
After fleeing Tunisia amid heightened protests against his rule, Ben Ali went to Saudi Arabia, where he currently resides.
Tunisia's main union said it would stage a national strike in January to press its demand for higher wages after the government said it would seek a realistic pay deal.About 650,000 public sector workers went on strike and thousands joined protests across Tunisia on Thursday over the government's refusal to raise wages amid threats from international lenders to stop financing Tunisia's tattered economy.Raising the pressure on the government the UGTT Union called for a nationwide strike that include public employees and state companies on Jan. 17.Tunisian PM seeks realistic pay deal with unionPrime Minister Youssef Chahed said earlier on Saturday that any agreement must take into account the public finances.The government had said it does not have the money to pay for the increases strikers want, worth about 2 billion Tunisian dinars ($690 million) in total.Tunisia's economy has been in turmoil since autocrat Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was toppled in a 2011 uprising sparked by anger at unemployment and poverty.
Tunisian union calls national strike to press wage demands
Tunisia's government is seeking to agree a realistic pay deal with the UGTT union taking into account public finances, Prime Minister Youssef Chahed said on Saturday.About 650,000 public sector workers went on strike and thousands joined protests across Tunisia on Thursday over the government's refusal to raise wages amid threats from international lenders to stop financing Tunisia's tattered economy. 
Tunisian PM seeks realistic pay deal with union