Tunisia: Police have arrested another union leader

TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisian police have arrested an official of the powerful Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT), a powerful union with more than one million members, accused of insulting a minister, an official said. said on Thursday.

Last June, the UGTT launched a nationwide strike against Tunisian President Kais Saied, who has seized almost all power in 2021 and cracked down on political opponents in the country.

An official of the union told Reuters on condition of anonymity that its secretary-general, Abdel Nasser Ben Amara, was arrested on Wednesday following a protest on Monday. He did not give further details.

Government officials were not immediately available.

Another senior union official was arrested last month for organizing a strike by motorway toll operators, and the UGTT accused Kais Syed of declaring war on the organisation, which has one million members.

The UGTT has been holding rallies across Tunisia since January following weeks of arrests in the biggest crackdown since 2021.

Police have arrested more than a dozen opposition leaders, accusing them of conspiring against the security of the state.

(Reporting by Tarek Amara; French edition edited by Lina Golovnya, Kate Enstringer)