This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been greeted by an outpouring of public anger on his arrival in Tunisia, one of the stops on his first trip abroad since the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which critics say was designed to whitewash his image before the G20 summit later this week.

After embraces and smiles from allies in the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt this week, the powerful crown prince did not receive such a warm welcome in Tunis: at least 200 people gathered in the city centre on Monday night the day before scheduled talks with the Tunisian president, Beji Caid Essebsi.

A huge banner depicting the prince carrying a chainsaw – – a reference to his alleged involvement in Khashoggi’s gruesome murder and reported dismemberment at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul – was unfurled over the Tunisian journalists’ union building.

On Tuesday, hundreds more demonstrators carried placards reading “No to polluting revolutionary Tunisia” and “The murderer is not welcome”, in marches organised by youth and women’s rights groups.

Bassam Bounenni (@bbounenni) Au siège du syndicat des journalistes en #Tunisie avant la visite du prince héritier saoudien pic.twitter.com/pIqv81L7Z4

After several weeks of shifting explanations, Riyadh eventually admitted the dissident writer was killed at the hands of a hit team sent from the kingdom, but the Saudis maintain that Prince Mohammed had no knowledge of the rogue operation.

The Tunis protests were accompanied by statements from the Tunisian journalists’ union and a dozen non-governmental organisations decrying Prince Mohammed’s visit as an “attack on the principles” of the Arab spring that brought democracy and freedom of expression to Tunisia.

“Arab citizens are often hostages to our governments,” said Suad Abu-Dayyeh, a consultant for the campaign group Equality Now. “Prince Salman is locking up and torturing women activists in Saudi Arabia. I’m delighted Tunisians are standing up to him.”

Tunisian officials stressed the “historical and fraternal” relations between Tunis and Riyadh, adding that the region would suffer if Saudi Arabia, a regional power, was destabilised by Prince Mohammed’s removal.

Tunisia is a longstanding recipient of Saudi development and aid funds. Many in the country are still angry, however, that Saudi Arabia offered refuge to the corrupt former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali after he was overthrown in 2011, and has since refused to extradite him.

After Tunisia, Prince Mohammed is due to travel to the G20 summit in Argentina on Friday, where many world leaders are dreading the prospect of public meetings with the embattled heir to the throne.

While the US president, Donald Trump, has reiterated support for his Saudi ally, going as far as contradicting the CIA’s reported assessment that the crown prince ordered Khashoggi’s death, the possibility of shaking hands and posing for photos with the Saudi de facto leader poses a headache for the British prime minister, Theresa May, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron.

Both the UK and France have condemned Saudi Arabia’s conduct over Khashoggi’s murder and used it to pressure the Saudi-UAE coalition fighting in Yemen into renewed peace talks, but the criticism has stopped short of ending arms sales to the Gulf.

On Monday, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch took the largely symbolic step of writing to a federal prosecutor in Argentina demanding the crown prince’s arrest on his arrival in Buenos Aires for war crimes and torture.

The prince is reportedly still expected to attend the summit.