11 Apr 12 | Middle East and North Africa
On 11 April the Tunisian Cabinet lifted a ban on protesting on Habib Bourguiba Avenue in Tunis.
In a communiqué released on 28 March, the Interior Ministry prohibited all “forms of collective expression” on the avenue, after receiving “complaints” from a number of businesses, and citizens.
After the Ministry’s controversial decision, there were two attempts to break the ban. On 7 April, dozens of unemployed graduates sought to protest on the avenue, but police used tear gas and batons to disperse them. Two days later, police cracked down on demonstrators who attempted to celebrate Martyrs’ Day on the same avenue.
Major buildings, such as the once so feared Interior Ministry, and the French Embassy are located on the avenue.
Habib Bourguiba Avenue has a symbolic significance for Tunisians. It was there, when thousands of anti Ben Ali regime protesters gathered on 14 January 2011. Ever since that day the avenue, once a commercial and a touristic attraction, has turned into an epicentre of protests.
05 Apr 12 | Index Index, minipost
Police beat 30 demonstrators whilst they were detained at a police station in Jordan on 31 March. The demonstrators were arrested after gathering near the Prime Minister’s office in Amman, protesting the detention of seven activists from Tafila who were arrested mid-March. The 100 strong group of protesters were warned by police after some began chanting “if the people are scorned, the regime will fall.” The crowd were violently dispersed and beaten with truncheons by the police, and 30 participants were arrested. After being taken to the Central Amman Police station, officers continued to kick, punch and beat those who had been arrested.
05 Apr 12 | Russia
Journalists and photographers gathered near the Uzbekistan embassy in Moscow to protest against the deportation of their colleague Victoria Ivleva and Uzbekistan authorities’ policy towards foreign journalists.
Ivleva, a photojournalist for Novaya Gazeta, was deported from Uzbekistan without explanation on 23 March. She arrived in the country’s capital Tashkent to hold free training courses for her Uzbek colleagues, but was refused permission to enter the country or contact Russian officials and then was put on a flight back to Russia.
Ivleva speculates that she was refused entry because the training was being organised by Umida Akhmedova — a notable local photographer who was charged on “insult and libel against Uzbek nation” after creating a documentary dedicated to women’s rights in Uzbekistan in 2010. But her expulsion could also be due to an article she wrote six years ago. Entitled The Country of Fish the article describes how Uzbek people were humiliated and silenced by the authorities.
Ivleva’s colleagues waited until the beginning of April to hold a protest sanctioned by Moscow’s authorities. They gathered in Uzbek national clothes, with placards saying “A man with a camera is no enemy to the state” and other slogans. They told journalists that people of two countries, that once were fellow citizens, “should not suffer from deportations”.
Uzbek embassy staff did not come out of the building to meet the protesters, but were seen videoing them through the window.
As one of the protesters, Daniil Kislov editor-in-chief of Fergana online media, told journalists that since 2005 Uzbek authorities have banished reporters from all the leading agencies, making the country a “burnt information field”.
29 Mar 12 | Middle East and North Africa
The Tunisian Ministry of Interior has issued a ban on protests on Habib Bourguiba Avenue in Tunis, the capital’s main avenue. The ministry claims that it took such decision following complaints received from commercial and touristic businesses located on the avenue, as well as from citizens “over violations committed during some protests”.
“The Ministry of Interior has decided to prohibit protests, marches, and all forms of collective expression on the entire Habib Bourguiba Avenue as of the release of this communiqué”, said the ministry on 28 March.
The decision of the Ministry came few days after a group of Islamists calling for the implementation of Islmaic law gathered on the avenue on 25 March, not far away from a cultural gathering of Tunisian artists, and actors who got together to celebrate World Theater Day. The artists claim that they were assaulted by some of the Islamist protesters, something the Ministry of Interior denies. “During these two manifestations, no acts of violence were registered”, said the ministry in a communiqué released on 25 March.
The prestigious Habib Bourguiba Avenue, once a touristic and commercial attraction, turned into an epicenter of protests in January 2011 when thousands of protesters demanding the fall of the regime of Zeine el-Abidin Ben Ali assembled there. Right after the ousting of former President Ben Ali, a protest culture flourished all over the country, and Habib Bourguiba Avenue has been regarded as a symbol of rebellion.
