A Tunisian human rights activist: The closure of the Ras Ijdir crossing sparked the anger of a number of merchants in the city of Ben Guerdane

The head of the Tunisian Observatory for Human Rights, Mustafa Abdel Kabir, confirmed that the closure of the Ras Jdir border crossing between Libya and Tunisia sparked the anger of a number of merchants in the city of Ben Guerdane.

Abdel Kabir explained, in statements to the Qatari Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed website, that angry merchants set fire to tires in the center of the city of Ben Guerdane, before security intervened to disperse them.

Regarding the reason for the merchants’ anger, Abdel Kabir stated that it is because the majority of the protesters are merchants who work in intra-regional trade or in stores that supply goods to Libya. Therefore, the closure of the crossing has reduced them to forced unemployment and has become a threat to their source of livelihood.

It is noteworthy that the Ras Jdir port has been closed for several days, due to clashes that took place between forces affiliated with the militiaman Imad Al-Tarabsi and the militias of the Berber cities in the Western Mountain.