Two days ahead of the sixth anniversary marking the assassination of Tunisian leftist leader Chokri Belaid, shot on February 6, 2013, Hamma Hammami, a spokesman for the left-wing Popular Front coalition, called on the incumbent Tunisian government to resign.
Hammami blasted the cabinet under Prime Minister Youssef Chahed for receiving the support of the center-right Ennahda Movement, calling for its immediate dissolution and the formation of a new government.
Speaking at a presser in Tunis, Hammami condemned the government’s failure to solve social and economic crises ravaging the country.
Hammami called for the resignation of Chahed’s government in order to “save Tunisian youth from dependence on foreign forces,” referring to the conditions imposed by the international financial structures, including the International Monetary Fund, on Tunisia.
The Popular Front had stood out from the vote on the state budget for 2019 and accused the government of complying with a "foreign will" rather than seeking viable development solutions to meet the needs of poor and marginalized interior areas.
It is noteworthy that this leftist political alliance has been organizing protests since 2013 to commemorate Belaid’s killing and to demand justice for his death.
The group accuses the Ennahda Movement of running a covert assassination squad responsible for Belaid’s assassination—Ennahda, however, rejects such accusations.
On the other hand, 22 Tunisian graduates in central west Tunisia announced their decision to march on foot towards the Tunisian-Algerian border under the banner of “seeking asylum,” hoping to send a clear message on their suffering with joblessness, a dilemma which continues to be met with institutional indifference.
Four months ago, the same group of protesting students organized a sit-in at the local authority's headquarters, but their demands for employment and development went unanswered.
