FRANCE PRESS

TUNIS: Tunisia’s prime minister announced Tuesday a ban on police engaging in union activity, which he said were a threat to the country’s security ahead of next month’s historic post-revolution elections.
“I have decided from today to ban all union activity among security services in view of the danger that such activity represents for the security of the country,” Beji Caid Essebsi said at a press conference.
He was speaking as hundreds of police officers, angered at charges of killing protesters, demonstrated outside the main government building in Tunis, security forces unions said.

They called for the immediate resignations of Interior Minister Habib Essid and army chief General Rachid Ammar. They accused the army chief of being behind recent unrest in Tunisia with the aim of seizing power.
At least two people have been killed and scores injured in recent days in the center and southwest of the country, prompting authorities to impose a curfew on three towns.
The police unions are in particular calling for a fair trial for 23 officers who have been detained on charges of killing protesters.

They were arrested in the wake of civil unrest in December and January which flared after weeks of protests initially focused on unemployment, sparked by the suicide of a young graduate who set himself alight on Dec. 17.
According to the union, 10 police officers were killed and 18 shot and injured on Jan. 14, the day ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was arrested as he sought to flee the country.
“Remove Caid Essebsi,” and “Clean up the Interior Ministry,” were some of the slogans chanted by the demonstrating police officers.

Hated and feared under Ben Ali, Tunisia’s police feel they are being used as scapegoats for the country’s post-revolution woes while the army got all the prestige for its involvement in the transition.
Tunisians are due to vote on Oct. 23 for the first time since Ben Ali’s ouster. They will elect a constituent assembly, which will draft a new basic law and road map for the North African country after more than two decades of autocratic and corrupt rule.

Caid Essebsi also pledged the “strict imposition of the state of emergency” decreed after the fall of Ben Ali and since prolonged by successive decrees, until Nov. 30.
“The government will see the law applied,” the prime minister said, pointing out that it banned “all demonstrations, all strikes and all meetings that could affect the security of the country.”
“The interior minister has the right to place under house arrest any person known for activities affecting internal security,” he added.

“Many dangerous things happened in this country and that concerns all its citizens,” he said, adding that the government had met Monday to discuss security measures.
Violence has in recent days rocked regions in the center and southwest of Tunisia, claiming at least two lives and injuring dozens, and three towns have been placed under a nocturnal curfew.
Caid Essebsi accused unidentified “parties” of being behind the unrest and said: “It is astonishing that each time elections approach, denigration campaigns and trouble arise.”