(14 Jan 2018) LEADIN:
It's seven years since a Tunisian street vendor set himself on fire, triggering the country's revolution and the Arab Spring.
But the people in the city where it all started feel it hasn't achieved the social justice they had hoped for and are left with a struggling economy.
STORYLINE:
In a corridor at the Ministry of Education in Sidi Bouzid, protesters are making their voices heard.
They are part of a group of 64 teaching assistants who are demanding better pay and other benefits.
The ministry signed an agreement with the group in November, pledging to employ them under the same conditions as normal teachers. But the protesters say it has not been honoured.
"We were promised they would look at the issue, but it was in vain," says Sassi Alibi, spokesman for the protesters.
Sidi Bouzid is synonymous with protests.
A sculpture of a vegetable cart stands in the city, commemorating vegetable vendor Mohamed Bouazizi who died after setting himself on fire, desperate at the way the authorities treated him.
His act of self-immolation triggered the Tunisian revolution and the wider Arab Spring.
But seven years on, rights campaigners say that rebellion has not lived up to its promise
"Unemployment and marginalisation are still rising, in addition to the absence of state investment in this city and false promises," says Bouderbala Nasiri, head of the Sidi Bouzid branch of the Tunisian League for the Defence of Human Rights.
"But this does not change the fact that in Sidi Bouzid, like other Tunisian cities, there has been an important shift in the field of rights and freedoms, both individual and public, which is not insignificant."
This central city can proudly claim to have the started the chain of events that led to the ousting of long-time president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
It was outside this government building that Bouazizi set himself on fire.
But while the revolution that followed was hailed as a victory for the principles of freedom and democracy, it hasn't put money in the pockets of the unemployed young people as they sit outside coffee shops with no jobs to go to.
Karima Amami, a human rights activist, says before the revolution people had food but no freedom.
"Today it is true that there is freedom of expression and many other liberties, but in return there is a very high cost of living," she says.
Tawfik Sayahi is well qualified but still can't find a job.
He blames the "employment policy adopted by the state" for his situation and claims the authorities deliberately want people to be out of work.
"When they have a huge number of unemployed it will affect salaries and make it cheaper," he says.
Angry at the lack of job opportunities and the fragile economy, local men take to the streets of the city.
They chant against the government and policies that they believe are making them poorer.
Seven years after Mohamed Bouazizi's death, Sidi Bouzid is not finished protesting.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
