Summary:

On the evening of 17/18 October 2023, a large number of individuals were killed and wounded at a hospital in Gaza, prompting protests across the region, including in Tunisia. 

During the night of 17/18 October, following news of the incident at the hospital in Gaza, protestors in Gabes heavily damaged a synagogue, including setting fire to parts of the building. 

Throughout the day on 18 October, protests gathered in nearly every major city in Tunisia following calls from the Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail (UGTT) for teachers and students to leave schools and gather for protests. 

The largest gathering of protestors was in downtown Tunis in front of the French Embassy where thousands gathered in what some called the largest protests in Tunisia since the 2011 revolution. 

Anti-French sentiment dominated the dialogue amongst protestors as tensions continue to grow in France over the government’s response to pro-Palestinian protestors. Anti-American sentiment was also common amongst the protestors.  

Apart from the incident in Gabes, protests were widely reported as being peaceful with limited confrontations with police and security forces. 

Outlook:  

The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas is uniting Tunisians around pro-Palestinian and anti-Western sentiment.  

While protests have been largely peaceful, the rhetoric has called strongly for action against Western countries, including the expulsion of the French and American ambassadors from Tunisia. The French, American, and Israeli flags have all been burned on multiple occasions. 

As the conflict between Israel and Hamas develops and, potentially, intensifies, risks of protest activity evolving into a violent unrest is possible. The targets of such incidents will likely be symbols of Western presence with the French embassy being the most vulnerable given its central location in downtown Tunis. 

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