Editor’s Note: Every Friday, WPR Associate Editor Robbie Corey-Boulet curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent.
Nearly seven years to the day after Tunisia’s so-called Jasmine Revolution forced the departure of longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the country was once again rocked by widespread protests this week—this time sparked by austerity measures including price and tax increases.
According to the BBC, protests had occurred in at least 10 locations, including Tunis, the capital, as of Thursday. Hundreds of people were arrested; 50 police officers were injured; the army was deployed in some places; and at least one protester, in the town of Tebourba, was killed. The unrest seemed likely to intensify, with the secular opposition Popular Front calling for a large-scale demonstration in the capital on Sunday, the anniversary of Ben Ali’s ouster, which kicked off the uprisings across the Middle East known as the Arab Spring.