TUNIS: Tensions in Tunisia ratcheted up as demonstrators seeking better rights for migrants staged a sit-in before EU headquarters, capping a week in which Tunisian authorities targeted migrant communities from the coast to the capital with arrests and the demolition of tent camps.

Several activists were apprehended this week, accused of financial crimes stemming from providing aid to migrants. Authorities razed encampments outside UN headquarters, sweeping up dozens of sub-Saharan Africans who had been living there for months. Fewer migrants have made the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea this year than last due to weather and beefed-up border security.

The 2024 figures align with objectives set by the EU as part of a deal worth more than €1 billion ($1.1 billion) that included assistance to better police the border and prevent migrants without papers from reaching Europe.

However, human rights activists say the crackdown has been damaging for the tens of thousands of migrants stuck in Tunisia as a result.

Demonstrators blasted the security-centric approach governments on both sides of the Mediterranean Sea have chosen to drive their migration policies. Some of the signs at the protests decried Tunisia’s cooperation with Italy and Europe, while others mourned the lives of Tunisians who had died or gone missing at sea.

Bodies continue to wash ashore on the country’s central coastline not far from small towns where migrants have clashed with police and farmers have grown increasingly wary of the growing presence of encampments in olive groves where they make their livings, claiming rampant theft and staging protests demanding government intervention, according to local media.

According to figures from Italy’s Interior Ministry on May 8, the number of migrants reaching Italy in 2024 fell by two-thirds compared to the same point last year.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR reported that more than 24,000 migrants traveled from Tunisia to Italy in the first four months of 2023 while fewer than 8,000 had successfully made the journey over the same period this year.

These trends relieve pressure on European officials hoping to avoid overcrowded detention centers, high numbers of asylum claims and increased concern about immigration ahead of EU parliamentary elections in June.

AP