A protest of Tunisia's anti-LGBTQI+ laws and discrimination against women was broken up by plain-clothes police on the weekend, according to AFP.
According to some of the activists involved, they were informed the protest was "banned" by the government, citing the safety of those involved as well as maintaining "public order".
"We had information that they were going to be targeted," Khalifa Chibani, a spokesperson for the interior ministry, told AFP.
The protest was aimed at Tunisia's anti-LGBTQI+ laws, discrimination against women, as well as "the repeal of regressive laws and to put an end to the criminalisation of sexual freedom".
Homosexuality continues to be illegal in Tunisia, with same-sex marriages not officially recognised by the government. In September 2017, forced anal exams were no longer sanctioned by the government to "test" if men were gay. The procedure had long been criticised by organisations like the United Nations Human Rights Council for being having no basis in medicine and ultimately being considered torture.
About a dozen protesters went ahead and showed up at the scheduled time but were moved on by plain-clothed officers before an altercation broke out when two activists attempted to unfurl a rainbow flag.
The AFP also reports that two of the activists involved in the altercation were arrested and taken from the protest area.
One of the other members involved in the protest was Bouhdid Belhadi who started up Tunisia's first LGBT+ online radio station, Shams Rad, despite receiving threats of violence against him.
