Largest Strikes Quake Tunisia in Last 5 Years

By: Nawal Sayed

CAIRO, Nov. 23 (SEE)- Thousands of people gathered outside Tunisian Parliament, in a response to calls from the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT) for demonstrations on Thursday in the largest general strike in last five years.

"You have destroyed these people, you have starved them," the UGTT Secretary-General Noureddine Taboubi said at the rally.

[caption id="attachment_24202" align="aligncenter" width="636"]        People carry flags as they protest against the government's refusal to raise wages in Tunis, Tunisia November 22, 2018. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi[/caption]

The union said 90 per cent of the country's civil servants took part in the strike, crippling ministries, hospitals and public schools, although public transport continued to run.

In Tunis protesters chanted "the wage increase is not a favour" and "Tunisia is not for sale", also employing a popular slogan of the country's 2011 revolution – "work, freedom, national dignity".

On Jan. 14, 2011, Tunisian protesters toppled former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali after 23 years in power.

In 2016, the IMF granted Tunisia a 2.4-billion-euro loan over the span of four years in exchange for a promise to carry out economic reforms.

In recent months, political life in Tunisia has been paralyzed by power struggles ahead of presidential elections set for Nov. 2019.

[caption id="attachment_24201" align="aligncenter" width="569"]       Tunisian lawyers gather as they demonstrate against the government's proposed new taxes, near the courthouse, in Tunis, Tunisia, October 21, 2016. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi[/caption]