Tunisia: Nearly 20 Police Officers Wounded in Friday's Protest, Interior Ministry Says

Tunis/Tunisia — A group of protestors who on Friday took to the Habib Bourguiba Avenue, headed to the Interior Ministry's seat and deliberately took down the metal barriers there, the Interior Ministry specified in a statement.

They attacked the security units, throwing stones, water bottles and banners, wounding 20 among them, the same source added on Saturday.

The public prosecutor's office ordered to initiate an investigation and place 11 persons among the protesters in police custody, the department said.

Besides, the ministry underlined that the security units had ensured the security of a protest movement led by a political party in front of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights seat "without any clashes with the protesters."

"The security institution is discharging its duty, which consists, among other things, in ensuring the security of the protests while maintaining public order and the protection of public and private property," the ministry stressed.

The National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT), the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) as well as several political parties firmly decried police violence against citizens and journalists on Friday during a protest against the draft of the new Constitution.

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