Air traffic, trains, buses and most of the services in Tunisia were halted yesterday and thousands gathered in large protests after the labor union launched a general strike to protest the government's refusal to raise the wages of some 670,000 employees.
Thousands gathered outside the headquarters of the Tunisian General Union of Labor in central Tunis, calling "the people want to overthrow the government" in a repeat of the slogans of 2011 when the mass protests overthrew President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and ignited other uprisings in the region.
The strike also includes schools, hospitals, offices and government banks, and all the means of transport that have been completely disrupted in the capital and most of the Tunisian cities.
"The people want social justice ... the increase is an absolute duty," and "No fear or terror ... and power belongs to the people", in the courtyard of Mohammed Ali, near Habib Bourguiba Street, the street symbolizing the protests of 2011.
Hundreds of police and riot police were deployed in the center of the capital and passers-by were thoroughly searched.
Tunisia Airways said it expected turbulence and urged customers to change their flight bookings and said it would delay at least 16 flights on Friday and Saturday.
At Tunis Carthage airport, most flights were canceled and registration offices were closed, while hundreds of angry passengers remained on hold.
Prime Minister Youssef al-Shahid said yesterday that the strike would be very costly, but the government could not raise wages disproportionately to the country's financial potential.
Government spokesman Iyad Dahmani said the response to the union's demand for an increase of $ 850 million would increase inflation to more than 10% from about 7.4% currently.
"The government has come under the dictates of the IMF and has chosen the difficult solution of confronting the two workers," said Sami Tahiri, assistant secretary-general of the Labor Union.