More than 150 people have been arrested in Tunisia in a further sweep by police as authorities move to head off major protests this weekend against government-imposed price increases.

Almost 800 people, including opposition leaders, have now been held in an intensifying crackdown prompted by demonstrations, some violent, which have swept the north African country in recent days.

Protesters have burned dozens of state buildings, prompting the government to send the army into several cities and towns. One demonstrator has been killed and dozens of police injured.

Activists and opposition politicians have called fresh demonstrations on Sunday, the seventh anniversary of the toppling of the authoritarian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

Timeline Key events in Tunisia since the 2011 revolt Show President flees Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali quits on 14 January, after weeks of demonstrations. The Islamist group Ennahda is legalised in March, and in October it wins 89 of the 217 seats in a constituent assembly in Tunisia's first free election. The assembly elects the former opposition leader Moncef Marzouki as president in December. Attacks, unrest In June and August, violent demonstrations erupt, while Islamists start staging attacks. In September, four attackers are killed in clashes at the US embassy as hundreds protest over an anti-Islam film. In late November, riots break out in Siliana, south-west of Tunis, in which 300 are injured. Opposition leaders killed In February, the prominent anti-Islamist opposition leader Chokri Belaid is assassinated in Tunis, sparking deadly protests and a political crisis. In July, the leftist opposition leader Mohamed Brahmi is also shot dead. Jihadists claim both killings. First free presidential poll In January, politicians adopt a new constitution after two years of turmoil that exposed a deep rift between Ennahda and the secular opposition. In October, the secular Nidaa Tounes party led by Beji Caid Essebsi comes top in the parliamentary polls. Two months later, Essebsi defeats Marzouki in Tunisia's first free presidential election. Carnage The country suffers three attacks claimed by Islamic State: in March, 21 tourists and a policeman are killed as gunmen assail the Bardo Museum in Tunis; in June, attackers kill 38 foreign tourists, 30 from Britain, in a coastal resort town south of Tunis; in November, a suicide bomber kills 12 presidential guards in the capital. New protests In January, protests against poverty and unemployment erupt throughout the country. It is the worst social unrest since the 2011 revolution. In March, at least 35 jihadists, 11 members of the security forces and seven civilians are killed during an assault on security installations in the town of Ben Guerdane. In August, Youssef Chahed of Nidaa Tounes forms a national unity government including ministers from Ennahda and independents. 'Decisive measures' In December the IMF calls on Tunis to take "urgent action" and "decisive measures" to reduce its deficit, after giving the country a $2.9bn loan the previous year. AFP

Most of those taking to the streets are young, with many students and unemployed people among them. The activist group Fesh Nestannew? (What Are We Waiting For?) has led many of the protests. About 200 protestors marched peacefully through the centre of Tunis on Friday.

Most of the violence has occurred in poorer neighbourhoods of the capital, or disadvantaged towns in the interior of the country where groups of young men have clashed at night with security forces.

Analysts say the government has worked to keep the two strands of the protests divided. Campaigners accuse the authorities of an “indiscriminate” crackdown.

“While it is legitimate to arrest those who have committed violence, it is unacceptable to see random arrests and detentions. [Recent] events should not constitute a pretext for a crackdown on social movements and activists,” said Amna Guellali, Tunisia researcher at the charity Human Rights Watch.

The immediate causes of the unrest are government-imposed price and tax rises, which will increase the cost of basic goods. The government says the moves are essential to cut a ballooning deficit and satisfy Tunisia’s international lenders.

Phone calls, coffee, tea, cooking gas and cars are among hundreds of services and items that will become more expensive. Longer-term factors behind the protests include high levels of poverty, great inequality and youth unemployment, particularly among graduates.

Protesters shout slogans in Tunis. Photograph: Zoubeir Souissi/Reuters

While Tunisia is widely seen as the only democratic success story among Arab spring states, it has had nine governments since the overthrow of Ben Ali, who ruled for 24 years.

The revolt was sparked by the death in 2010 of Mohamed Bouazizi, a street seller who set himself on fire in a protest against unemployment and police harassment. It raised expectations of rapid improvement and a much fairer distribution of wealth.

Instead, few of the deep structural problems that led to the revolt have been dealt with. Development has favoured areas and elites that had prospered under the former regime.

Asked about the latest unrest Khelifa Chibani, an interior ministry spokesman, said: “The protests have declined and there was no damage, but last night the police arrested 150 people involved in rioting in the past few days, bringing the total number of detainees to 778.”

Sixteen “Islamist extremists” were among those detained, he said.

The Popular Front, a leftwing opposition party, said its leaders had been targeted in a political campaign that was “reproducing the methods of the oppressive Ben Ali regime”.

“What the government is doing is trying to distort these protests by distorting [our] public image. They are also trying to ‘tame’ us, to discourage us from supporting this popular movement,” said Dhouha Boussetta, a leader of the party.

Youssef Chahed, the Tunisian prime minister, accused the opposition of fuelling dissent by calling for more protests.

The government has vowed to continue with the austerity measures, taken to satisfy foreign lenders.



The International Monetary Fund says Tunisia is committed to “decisive action” to reform its economy before the IMF reviews the payment of its next tranche of loans. The Washington-based fund agreed a four-year loan programme with Tunisia worth about $2.8bn (£2bn).

Food prices in Tunisia have risen by about 8% a year since 2011, while the incomes of most Tunisians’ have increased little.

Tunisia’s influential unions have not backed the protests this week but are endorsing a major demonstration on Sunday.

“That will bring out an older generation who are less radical and looking for less drastic change. I don’t see the unrest stopping given how the prices are ... the government will have to make concessions at some point,” said Fadil Aliriza, an analyst in Tunis.

Chahed told reporters he was considering some measures to protect the poorest and tackle corrupt middlemen after a meeting with Tunisia’s president, Béji Caïd Essebsi, on Friday afternoon.

In a recent poll of Tunisians, 68% said the current economic situation was “very bad”, while only 37% thought the financial situation of their household would improve in the next year. More than 80% thought the country was heading in the wrong direction.

Chahed, who commands a coalition of secular and Islamist parties, has said 2018 will be a difficult year for Tunisia but the economy will improve rapidly once the new measures take effect.