Tunisians Protest After Man Sets Himself Alight Due to Poor Living Conditions

Tunisian police used tear gas to disperse dozens of protesters who blocked roads in the southern town of Jelma Saturday following the death of a young man who burned himself to death, witnesses said.

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The 25-year-old, Abdelwahed Hablani, set himself on fire and died in hospital on Friday in protest at poverty and poor living conditions, echoing the 2010 self-immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi, whose death triggered the so-called Arab Spring.

On Saturday afternoon, protesters burnt tires before police intervened to reopen roads, firing tear gas canisters, the witnesses said, but the demonstrations were continuing late into Saturday evening.

The economic situation in the Arab country continues to deteriorate, as unemployment (15 to 30 percent depending on the city) is higher than it was under the former autocrat, Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, who died earlier this year in exile in Saudi Arabia.

Inflation hit a record 7.8 percent last year and is still high at 6.8 percent. Frequent public sector strikes disrupt services. Financial inequality meanwhile divides Tunisians and the poverty of many areas has become an important political theme.

Tunisians voted last month for a new parliament but quiet polling stations had given an indication of the economic disillusionment that has emerged since 2011.

The failure of repeated coalition governments that grouped the old secular elite and the Islamist Ennahda party to address a weak economy and declining public services has dismayed many Tunisians.

Meanwhile, several hundred, mostly women, protesters rallied in the Tunisian capital on Saturday against violence targeting women, urging authorities to act to ensure their rights. The march organized by around 50 local NGOs including the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD).

"We want to see a real mobilization by the authorities to end all forms of violence against women and to be firm with perpetrators of such violence," protester Selma Bhar told AFP. 

The march followed an incident in October in which a newly elected lawmaker was shown in a video that purported to show him masturbating outside a school.