"The government is robbing us", say young Tunisians

The youth in Tunisia's poor districts, disenfranchised and disconnected from their leaders, have had enough.

Economic stagnation and the handling of the global health crisis have eaten away at their optimism.

And now they are taking to the streets - a decade after mass protests toppled Tunisia's long-time president, sparking uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa.

19-year-old Aymen has a simple explanation for the night-time clashes between youths like himself and police - he has nothing to lose.

"We began the protest by lighting fire, throwing rocks and Molotov, breaking in, that's our right, the government is robbing us, ministers are robbing us also and you want people not to steal? The government rob us and then sit at home watching us get taken by the police."

Thousands of protesters have marched through cities across the country demanding jobs, dignity and an end to police violence.

It has been some of the worst political unrest in years.

Police say most of the hundreds arrested this week are between 15 and 20 years old.

Mohammed, who has only given his first name out of fear over the consequences, is out of school and unemployed.

When Reuters spoke to him, he was in an alleyway in the Ezzahrouni district, passing around cigarettes, soda bottles and marijuana with other young men.

"I want to leave Tunisia, what am I doing here? My life here is bad, it's possible Europe is better, at least there I can do something, here I can't do anything.... For me what happened in this protest is the right thing because the government is robbing us, people became angry and went out so they can steal also."

Since Tunisia's 2011 revolution ousted autocratic leader Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali successive governments have struggled with high deficits and demands for state jobs and services.

The current government is considered one of the weakest since the revolution; backed by a fragile coalition of rival parties after 2019 elections produced a deeply fragmented parliament.

It's not only battling widespread discontent, but also the global health crisis, which thrust Tunisia's economy into even deeper difficulty.

Speaking on Tuesday (January 19), Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi said he understood the economic frustration that lay behind the unrest but vowed to confront any violence.

But for many of the country's young people, protesting is the only way they feel their voices will be heard.