Thousands of Tunisians demonstrated outside the French embassy in Tunis following the explosion that left hundreds dead at a hospital in Gaza. They denounce France’s support for Israel and call for the dismissal of the French and American ambassadors.
Published on: 10/18/2023 – 00:05
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The wave of anger is spreading far beyond the Middle East. Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the French Embassy in Tunis on Tuesday evening, October 17, to protest the deadly shooting at a hospital in the Palestinian city of Gaza and called for the dismissal of the French and American ambassadors.
The Palestinian Islamist movement, which is in power in the Gaza Strip, reported more than 200 deaths and blamed Israel, which it denied. “The French and the Americans are the allies of the Zionists,” angry demonstrators chanted outside the French embassy headquarters in central Tunis. “Firing the ambassador is a duty,” “no American embassy on Tunisian territory,” they shouted, surrounded by a police force.
Hundreds of demonstrators initially gathered in front of the French embassy, but their number grew to over 3,000 people. The demonstrators, including opposition members and civil society representatives as well as lawyers, also chanted hostile slogans against French President Emmanuel Macron.
Tunisia, a strong ally of the Palestinians
At least 200 people were killed in a shooting at a hospital compound in Gaza City on Tuesday evening, the Hamas health ministry reported, blaming Israel. The Israeli army, in turn, attributed the attack to a failed rocket attack by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization, an ally of Hamas.
Tunisia, which hosted Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1982 to 1994 after its withdrawal from Lebanon, has always maintained a position of staunch support for the Palestinian cause.
Tunisian President Kais Saied has repeatedly called normalization with Israel a “crime” in his speeches, and a parliamentary committee is soon to consider a bill that would criminalize such a process.
With AFP