The death of a young man in the Tunisian town of Sbeitla has triggered clashes between angry youths and police as Tunisia faces a surge in violence in other parts of the country as anti-migrant tensions rise.
Police were trying to arrest a local businessman in Sbeitla suspected of running an illegal gambling operation but ran into resistance from his associates, triggering clashes in which the young man was fatally shot with a rifle, a town official said.
The businessman was being sought after an arrest warrant was issued by the Public Prosecutor’s office when police were confronted by a group of individuals armed with rifles and stones, the Tunisian interior ministry said.
One man died and another was injured during the clashes, according to the police.
An investigation was underway to determine the circumstances of his death, authorities said.
Young protesters in Sbeitla burnt tyres, blocked roads and threw stones at police after the incident while police responded with volleys of tear gas that dispersed the crowd, according to witnesses.
Tunisia has been suffering a surge in racial tensions in the Tunisian coastal city of Sfax and violence flared, directd at migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, dozens of whom were forcibly evicted from the city or fled.
During the disturbances late on Tuesday, police detained some migrants and took them as far as the Libyan border more than 300km away, according to a local rights group.
The latest unrest started after the funeral of a 41-year-old Tunisian man who was stabbed to death on Monday in an altercation between locals and migrants, which led to the arrests of three suspects from Cameroon.
Sfax, Tunisia’s second-largest city, is a departure point for many migrants hoping to reach Italy by sea, often making the crossing in dangerous dinghies or unsafe small boats, resulting in thousands of deaths a year.
