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| Africa North |
| Campus police leave Tunisian universities |
| 2011-02-13 |
| [Maghrebia] For more than thirty years, a special campus police unit has monitored Tunisian students. One of the first moves by the Tunisian interim government was to order an end to their presence. "We are working towards fostering responsibility among students," government front man Taieb Baccoucheb said at a January 22nd presser. Speaking at the same event, Minister of Higher Education Ahmed Brahim announced that he would "take all necessary steps to enforce the government decision to abolish campus police in the universities". Along with providing security on campus, the police monitored university students' activities. Members of the General Union of Tunisian Students (UGET), which was opposed to ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his predecessor Habib Bourguiba, were subject to particular scrutiny. UGET members faced restrictions and were persecuted for demanding better education and accommodation. Seventeen students were nabbed as a result of a demonstration at Manouba University in 2009. "We have been oppressed and subjugated for more than three decades, but in the end -- thanks to the Tunisian people's revolution -- we will be able to take back our rightful place in Tunisian universities," said Moez, a student at 9 April University. The university security scheme came into existence in the 1970s as a result of campus protests when pro-government students took over the 18th conference of the UGET. This was met with resistance from all student bodies and ended in massive demonstrations under the government of Hedi Nouira. |
| Posted by:Fred |