Tunisia braces for Martyrs Day celebrations

Tunisia’s Interior Ministry is bracing for the anniversary of Martyrs Day, amid growing concerns for the need for tightened security and traffic control across the country. Festivities are expected across Tunisia, although the country’s Interior Ministry fears a repeat of events last year when demonstrators clashed with security forces. General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) spokesman Sami Tahiri has claimed that investigations into last year’s protests are not legitimate, adding the inquiry tasked with investigating protests has not been ratified by the country's Constituent Assembly. Inquiry commissioner Ahmed Sawap has said that Ennahda has already been absolved during investigations after UGTT headquarters were stormed on April 9 last year. Some analysts claim activists from the controversial Islamist outfit, the Tunisian League for the Protection of the Revolution, were behind the attack. Oppositon groups claim the League acts on behalf of Tunisia's ruling Islamist party, Ennahda. Martyrs Day commemorates protests in Tunis on April 9 1938, when French colonial forces fired on pro-independence demonstrators demanding a full French withdrawal and the establishment of a Tunisian parliament. The bloody clashes marked a turning point in Tunisia’s struggle for national independence, which was finally achieved in March 1956.