Chloé Lagadou with AFP / Photo credit: FETHI BELAID / AFP
modified to
06:44, October 22, 2023
More than a thousand demonstrators gathered again this Saturday in front of the French embassy in Tunis. Many Tunisians criticize Paris for supporting, according to them, Israel in its war with the Palestinian terrorist movement Hamas in Gaza.
More than 1,000 demonstrators gathered again on Saturday in front of the French embassy in Tunis, demanding the departure of the ambassador and expressing their support for the Palestinians in their war with Israel. “The dismissal of the ambassador is a duty”, “no French embassy on Tunisian soil”, “the French and the Americans, allies of the Zionists”, chanted the demonstrators gathered at the call of the trade union center UGTT, noted an AFP journalist.
Many Tunisians criticize Paris for supporting, according to them, Israel in its war with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza. The demonstrators, including political figures and representatives of civil society, marched in the center of Tunis before converging on the embassy, surrounded by a large police force. They also called for criminalizing any normalization of relations with Israel.
Kaïs Saied deplores an “unacceptable humanitarian situation” in Gaza
The President of Parliament, Ibrahim Bouderbala, told the press on Friday that a plenary session will examine “very soon” a bill “prohibiting and penalizing” any normalization with Israel. Tunisia, which hosted Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1982 to 1994, firmly supports the Palestinian cause.
During a meeting Friday at the Presidential Palace with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, President Kais Saied deplored an “unacceptable humanitarian situation” in the Gaza Strip, which “puts shame on humanity,” according to the presidency. Israel has been shelling this Palestinian territory since October 7, in response to a bloody attack by Hamas on Israeli soil. The war has already left thousands dead.