Police clashed with protesters in a poor Tunis suburb and in a southern town on Thursday, as Tunisia's long-running economic and political crisis boiled over into fresh street violence, according to Al Jazeera, which cited AFP and Reuters reporting from the scene.

In Ettadhamen, a working-class suburb of the capital, police fired tear gas after the death of a man who had been detained on suspicion of drug dealing. Protesters blocked roads, burned tires and threw stones, while security forces worked to secure a National Guard station in the area. His family says he died from abuse after his arrest and is demanding accountability; local media have reported a different account, that he died after swallowing drugs while in custody.

In Jebiniana, a town in the southern Sfax governorate with its own history of unrest, police clashed separately with protesters after a man died during what his relatives say was a police chase. Tunisian media reported protesters set a vehicle on fire and burned tires there as well, with police again responding with tear gas.

A third, unrelated protest unfolded in the city of Sfax, where university students demonstrated over the death of a female classmate with a cardiac condition. Her fellow students blame delays by ambulance services and a lack of medical facilities, and have called for a strike at Sfax University faculties on Friday.

A country under pressure

The unrest comes against the backdrop of a deepening crisis that has fueled anger over living conditions and crumbling public services. On Oct. 17, thousands marched through Tunis in what Al Jazeera described as the largest demonstration against President Kais Saied in years, with protesters accusing him of undermining democracy and mismanaging the economy.

FEARS ARE GROWING OF A WIDER WAVE OF UNREST ACROSS A COUNTRY ALREADY STRAINED BY ECONOMIC HARDSHIP

Four days later, on Oct. 21, a Tunisian military court reportedly sentenced opposition politician Olfa Hamdi to four years in prison on charges of plotting against state security and inciting the military to disobey orders — the latest in a string of prosecutions of Saied's critics since he seized near-total power in 2021. Hamdi, the leader of the Third Republic party, has been held since her arrest at Tunis-Carthage airport in February, when she was referred to the Tunis permanent military court.

Saied has governed largely by decree since dissolving parliament in 2021, and his government has increasingly moved against journalists, opposition figures and civil-society groups it accuses of conspiring against the state — charges rights groups say are used to silence dissent.

What's next

No casualty, injury or arrest figures had been released as of Thursday night. Tunisian authorities have not publicly responded to the competing accounts of how the two men died, and the planned Friday strike at Sfax University could widen the unrest into a new front focused on public services rather than politics directly.