Angry residents took to the streets of an impoverished Tunisian town yesterday after a man died when authorities demolished an illegal kiosk where he was sleeping.
The shop in Sbeitla, in the central province of Kasserine, was demolished in the early hours on the orders of local authorities, security sources said.
Abderrazek Khachnaoui, the father of the shop’s owner, was killed in the operation, according to the same sources and his son. “I was not informed of this decision...and agents of the municipality proceeded with the destruction without checking if there was someone inside,” said the son, 25-year-old Oussama Khachnaoui. “My father, who was only 49 years old, died on the spot. Security agents fired tear gas at my family who had tried to approach my kiosk to save my father,” he said.
The death sparked angry protests by residents who blocked roads and set fire to a municipal car in Sourour district, where the shop selling newspapers and cigarettes was located, witnesses told an AFP correspondent.
The protesters also threw stones and other objects at the security forces, said interior ministry spokesman Khaled Hayouni, who did not confirm the cause of the man’s death.
Tunisian protesters take to the streets of the impoverished town of Sbeitla, yesterday after a man died when authorities demolished an illegal kiosk where he was sleeping.
