Demonstrators have taken to the streets in a number of Tunisian cities this week, calling for the government to scrap new austerity measures which include a hike in fuel prices and taxes on goods. According to state-run TAP news agency at least one man died in clashes that broke out Monday night between dozens of protesters and security forces in the town of Tebourba, near the capital Tunis. Meanwhile Tunisia's Interior Ministry on Tuesday denied reports that the dead man was run over by a police car and said it was investigating the cause. So far police have arrested 328 people. More protests have been called for, as a new youth movement and opposition lawmakers try to put pressure on the government to overturn the austerity measures.
The protests have raised fears of wider unrest in Tunisia, the North African nation which spawned the 2011 Arab Spring movement but has since been seen as a zone of relative stability in a troubled region.
To help us unpack and discuss this further we are joined on the line by:
1. Ibrahim Dean Senior Researcher Afro-Middle East Centre
2. Issandr El Amrani Project Director: North Africa Project International Crisis Group
