a police irruption in the show of a comedian is controversial
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Tunisian police tried to interrupt a performance by comedian Lotfi Abdelli on Sunday in Sfax in central Tunisia after a joke directed at them, judged to be “an attack on good morals”.
Police officers tried to interrupt the performance of the very popular Tunisian comedian Lotfi Abdelli, to “offense to good morals”, sparking controversy and fear of a return of censorship in Tunisia as in the time of dictator Ben Ali. Comedian and actor Lotfi Abdelli, 52, performed on Sunday at a festival in Sfax (Tunisia). Police officers providing security attempted to shut down the show after a scene in which he criticized authorities and police, flipping several middle fingers.
Lotfi Abdelli then took the public to witness to denounce the behavior “hostile” of “three policemen”. He accused them of throwing water bottles in his direction. After the incident his show was able to resume. To justify the behavior of the officers, a police union shared on its Facebook page on Tuesday “the scene of the show that irritated us”saying to himself “sorry” to publish such “trivialities” and “foolery”.
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Two police officers filed a complaint against the comedian for “offense to good morals”, an official at the Ministry of the Interior told AFP on Tuesday. This official made it clear that the union’s statements “in no way represent the official position of the authorities or the Ministry of the Interior”. The “position (of the ministry) is issued only by its official structures” and “its duty is to ensure that citizens exercise public and individual freedoms within the framework of what is authorized by law”the ministry said in a statement.
The shadow of a return to censorship
On social networks, many Tunisians criticized the attitude of the police and rejected any influence on the content of the shows. They also expressed their fears of a return to “repression” freedoms in Tunisia. Satirical shows like Lotfi Abdelli’s were not allowed under the dictatorship of Ben Aliknocked down by a revolution in 2011.
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For lawyer and human rights activist Bassem Trifi, “police censorship is an assault on freedom of expression, freedom of opinion and freedom of the media guaranteed in the 2022 Constitution”, barely passed in a referendum. On Facebook, he described the irruption of the police as “dangerous precedent”considering that the Ministry of the Interior has not adopted “Sufficiently stringent penalties for the behavior of police officers. When a group of security decides what is presented (on show), know that you are in a police state”.
The National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) for its part denounced attacks “against journalists who were filming the attack of a trade union policeman against Lotfi Abdelli”. Since 2011, police officers have the right to organize into unions. After the presidential coup Kais Saied who assumed full powers a year ago, NGOs and representatives of civil society have warned of a possible decline in freedoms in the country.
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