Seeing Red, Tunisians Protest on Arab Spring Anniversary
- Red Vests activists demand lower prices and job opportunities
- Government struggling to cut spending without stoking unrest
Tunisian protesters wave national flags and chant slogans during a civil servants general strike on Nov. 22.
Photographer: Fethi Belaid/AFP via Getty Images
Tunisian activists took the streets Monday in the same rural town where a fruit seller set himself ablaze years ago, demanding more job opportunities and lower prices in a new show of force on the anniversary of the uprising that triggered the Arab Spring revolts.
Among the several hundred protesters marching in the town of Sidi Bouzid were members of the Red Vests, activists modeling their movement on France’s Yellow Vest protesters. The group’s members, however, opted against donning the vests or even holding their planned march in the restive Kasserine province, as had initially been planned.