Tunisian security disperses unemployed demonstration

Tunisian security forces used tear gas and batons to disperse hundreds of unemployed workers A number of demonstrators were injured on Saturday as Tunisian security forces used tear gas and batons to disperse hundreds of unemployed workers who gathered in front of the headquarters of the Tunisian General Labour Union in the capital and attempted  to organise a march in Habib Bourguiba St to claim their rights to employment.
Police used force to deter the protesters who had  flocked to the capital from different Tunisian provinces,  from entering Habib Bourguiba St “the symbol of the Tunisian revolution.” The clashes led to several injuries in addition to those who collapsed and suffered breathing problems due to gas inhalation, which necessitated the intervention of the civil defense to transfer critical cases to hospitals.
In a statement issued by the Union for Unemployed Graduates, it said that the revolution's  objectives "are still mere dreams" adding  that "the  symbols of suppression, torture and corruption have not gone to trial"  and that  vast amounts of looted money have not been recovered.
The statement went on to say that what was both alarming and causing disappointment  was "the government’s willfulness to draw the public's attention away from crucial issues towards secondary issues" as a distraction against the true concerns of the Tunisian people and the unemployed in particular,
“We were prevented from exercising our rights to a peaceful demonstration in Habib Bourbuiba St, which is a grave retreat from the revolution's gains .” Salem al-Ayari of the Union for Unemployed Graduates commented.
In a statement to Arabstoday, a female unemployed worker said: “We were suppressed for one purpose which is to stop us from claiming our rights to get a job to ensure our dignity.” She added: “The government has no intention to address the problem of thousands of unemployed university graduates.”
The Tunisian ministry of the interior had forbidden demonstrations or any other collective means of expression as of March 28, under the pretext of receiving complaints from businesses with shops in the street, which has become a symbol of the protest movement since the departure of the former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.
The Tunisian government faces a major challenge to secure jobs for hundreds of thousands of unemployed university graduates.
According to IMF data, the unemployment rate in Tunisia at the beginning of 2012 reached 18.9 percent, compared to 13 percent in 2010.