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Tunisia: Moderates Implicated in Vandalism at Labour Headquarters

By Staff 23/02/2012 05:03:00

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Following incidents of vandalism at headquarters across the country on Monday, the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT) has accused supporters of the moderate Islamist party Ennahda of being behind the attacks.

It was initially reported that the union's local office in Feriana (the governorate of Kasserine) sustained significant burns. However, a member of the UGTT's executive office, Mouldi Jendoubi, denied the claim. "Some of the aggressors demanded from the local UGTT official to open the office, and threatened to burn it down otherwise," he said.

Jendoubi said that upon unlocking the office, some documents were stolen. The documents are now in custody of the local district office.

According to Jendoubi, who had just come back from Kasserine earlier today, it was not entirely clear who was responsible for ransacking the office in Feriana and vandalizing others around the country. He did have some strong suspicions, however, that supporters of the Islamist party, Ennahda, were to blame. The suspicions are based, he says, on the phrases the perpetrators supposedly used while attacking the offices.

"While we cannot read partisan affiliations on people's foreheads, who else would yell 'You will not be able to bring the government down'? - nobody other than supporters of the current government," he said.

Ennahda, however, strongly denied the accusation. "Some individuals are throwing around these accusations with the goal of jeopardizing the revolution and invalidating the results of the only free and fair elections Tunisia has seen in its history," asserted Noureddine Arbaoui, Ennahda's spokesperson.

Arbaoui called on the judiciary to take the lead in examining Monday's events. "The judiciary is the only institution that is officially allowed to investigate and present findings, and we encourage them to do so," he said.

The issue has attracted partisan attention, particularly from the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) and the Tunisian Communist Party (POCT). The PDP voiced strong support for the UGTT. "It is not the first time unionists are subjected to this type of exploitation," said Mouldi el Fahem, a member of PDP's executive bureau.

El Fahem more broadly attributed the actions to supporters of the so-called 'troika' - the coalition formed after the elections by the Congress for the Republic, Ettakatol, and Ennahda parties. "The PDP has unionists among its ranks, and they saw who attacked the offices. We trust their word and that of the UGTT," he said.

Jendoubi, the UGTT official, emphasized that the union wishes the country to reach stability, but not "at the expense of subjugating people and denying them their basic rights."

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