Tunisian police stormed the headquarters of the Tunisian state news agency TAP in response to a strike by its employees against the appointment of a new CEO, the National Union of Tunisian Journalists said Tuesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th April, 2021) Tunisian police stormed the headquarters of the Tunisian state news agency TAP in response to a strike by its employees against the appointment of a new CEO, the National Union of Tunisian Journalists said Tuesday.
"Security forces broke into the headquarters of the Tunisian News Agency this morning on Tuesday, April 13, 2021, and attacked journalists and staff working in the lobby of the agency to force the inauguration of new Director-General [Kamel Ben Younes] of the foundation with state force, a dangerous precedent that the public media had not seen even in the darkest periods," the union wrote on Facebook.
Agency personnel have scheduled a general strike for April 22 against Younes' appointment, which they see as an attempt by the government to deprive them of editorial independence, in what will become the first strike since the media outlet was founded in 1961.
Younes became the new CEO of TAP on April 6. The journalists then called on the government to reconsider his candidacy due to his attacks on press freedom and support for late President Ben Ali before the 2011 revolution.
