EL KAMOUR, Tunisia — It may look like just a clutch of tents pitched outside an oil pumping station on the edge of the Sahara. But to the people of this southern region, this is Tunisia’s second revolution.

Tired of waiting for the government to relieve their poverty and create jobs, thousands of young people have been camping here and demonstrating in the main town, Tataouine, for weeks.

This past week, the protesters shut the main oil pipeline at El Kamour and clashed with units of the National Guard who tried to burn down the camp on Monday. A police station and a National Guard post were burned in turn. One protester was killed, and at least two others were gravely wounded.

Six years after the revolution that brought down Tunisia’s dictator of 23 years, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the protests reflect mounting frustration at the broken promises of the country’s new democratic leaders to bring tangible improvement to poorer regions like this one.