Protests erupt after Tunisia police beat, strip, drag young boy during arrest
Angry protesters took to the streets in Tunisia after security forces brutally attacked a boy and dragged him after he was stripped naked, renewing controversy over civil liberty violations and mistreatment of prisoners in the country.
Violent clashes erupted on June 13 between security forces and young Tunisians protesting police violence in central Tunis and surrounding areas. The protests erupted after a 15-year-old boy was brutally assaulted by security forces in the Sidi Hassine area, a popular neighborhood in the suburbs.
A disturbing video widely circulated by Tunisians on social media on June 9 showed security forces stripping and beating the boy before shoving him naked inside a police car. The incident then caused a wave of violent condemnations in the area where the boy lives. Security forces fired tear gas to disperse protesters.
Social media activists in Tunisia expressed their condemnation of and frustration at the incident and their feelings of injustice and oppression — which had prompted the 2011 revolution.
In his first statement after his release, the 15-year-old recalled to the local Akher Khabar news website the assault he was subjected to. He said he was on his way home on the day of the incident and was neither drunk nor under the influence of narcotics. He said security agents approached him and assaulted him with extreme violence, undressing him and shoving him into the security car, where they asked him to wear the rest of his torn clothes.
