Dozens Of Tunisian Protesters Try To Enter Algerian Territory

On Sunday evening, dozens of Tunisians attempted to enter Algerian territory through the border post of Ras Layoun in the municipality of Ain Zarqa, Tebessa (eastern Algeria).

However, Algerian security officials at the border post, supported by security units of the municipalities of Ain el-Zarqa and Kouif, prevented the Tunisian protester from entering to Algeria and managed after half an hour of negotiations to persuade them to return to their homes.

Tunisians protesters are residents of Kasserine province, and they decided to take this step in order to draw the attention of their authorities to their bad social conditions which they describe as difficult.

This protest came about a week after a similar movement by jobless youths from Bir al-Atar, south of Tebessa, who tried to enter Tunisia via the center of Bitita under the slogan “job or illegal immigration”, and they were intercepted by the Algerian security services before they set foot in Tunisian territory.

Sources from the border center of Ras Laayoun told Echorouk that the Tunisian protesters were men, kids, and women who carried slogans and leaflets demanding work and improvement of their living conditions.

One of them said that they did not want to enter the Algerian territories in order to stay illegally but in order to raise their concerns until they are transmitted by the Algerian media”, and inform people about the suffering of Kasserine population, and young people in particular.

It is known that the Tunisian protests that move to Algeria were carried out at the level of the border center of Bouchebka or across the borderline in Bir Al-Atar, but this time it changed its destination and tried to break into the Ras Laayoun border post.

The borderline with neighboring Tunis, in Tebessa province, has lived since the “Jasmine Revolution” in 2011, dozens of similar movements, where initially protesters entered the Algerian territory and stay there for at least 48 hours, where the Algerian authorities receive them and provide them with the necessary needs during their presence on its territory, before settling the issue with their Tunisian counterpart. But in the recent period, the security services have been dealing with the situation with much rigor, against the background of security concerns.

Previously, the border post in Bouchbka was attacked by a number of people illegally brought some goods which were bought by Tunisians from Algerian markets using the wheeled vehicles, and protested against preventing them from doing these illegal activities.