To access the report: Between Freedom and Repression
Between Freedom and Repression: Human Rights Report Documents Escalating Violations of the Right to Peaceful Assembly in Tunisia
Tunis, 11 February 2026
Through its new report entitled “Between Freedom and Repression: The Right to Peaceful Assembly Amid Human Rights Violations,” Intersection Association highlights a troubling escalation in violations of the right to peaceful assembly in Tunisia between March and December 2025. These developments take place within a broader context marked by increasing restrictions on civic space and a serious decline in public freedoms.
The report is based on extensive documentation, including direct interviews, victim testimonies, and field data. It shows that the exercise of the right to peaceful assembly is no longer consistently guaranteed, but has increasingly become subject to a selective approach that distinguishes between demonstrations supportive of the authorities and those critical of them. In total, the report documents 116 cases of violations affecting activists involved in various peaceful gatherings, regardless of their objectives, organizers, or motivations.
The findings detail a range of violations linked to the right to peaceful assembly and collective freedom of expression. These include the excessive use of force and tear gas, arbitrary arrests of protesters, and prosecutions resulting in prison sentences for individuals participating in peaceful demonstrations.
The documented incidents reveal a recurring pattern in the security and judicial handling of protests. On 19 October 2025, the Association recorded approximately 30 arrests of football supporters affiliated with ultras groups in the capital following a gathering, with serious charges brought against them, including forming a criminal group and assaulting a public official while performing their duties. In Kairouan, tensions escalated in several neighborhoods, where protests were dispersed through the excessive use of tear gas, accompanied by random arrests affecting more than 20 individuals. In Gabès, the report documented 54 arrests linked to environmentally motivated gatherings.
The report emphasizes that these incidents are not isolated events but rather part of a broader and systematic policy aimed at restricting collective freedom of expression and limiting the right to peaceful assembly. It further shows that the prevailing state approach increasingly treats social, professional, student, and environmental mobilizations as security threats, rather than recognizing them as legitimate forms of peaceful protest.
The documentation covers a wide spectrum of movements and social groups, including protests by young doctors, university student demonstrations, sit-ins organized by unemployed individuals, prosecutions targeting football supporters, environmental mobilizations particularly in Gabès, as well as civil and political demonstrations largely concentrated in the capital, and socially driven protests in Kairouan.
The report also highlights that these restrictions rely on the use of both outdated legislation and recent decrees, including the 1969 law regulating public meetings and assemblies, alongside the continued extension of the state of emergency. This legal framework allows authorities to bypass constitutional guarantees and Tunisia’s international human rights obligations, in contradiction with the principles of necessity and proportionality established under international law and recognized in the Tunisian Constitution.
The report concludes with recommendations urging Tunisian authorities to end these violations and guarantee the right to peaceful assembly without discrimination. It also calls for revising the legal framework governing assemblies to ensure alignment with international standards. Furthermore, the Association calls on the judiciary to drop prosecutions against individuals participating in peaceful assemblies, guarantee all fair trial safeguards, and uphold its role in protecting rights and freedoms. It also encourages civil society actors to strengthen efforts to document violations of the right to peaceful assembly while providing legal and psychological support to victims.
Intersection Association stresses that the right to peaceful assembly is not a privilege granted by the authorities, but a fundamental right that cannot be criminalized, restricted through indirect measures, or undermined. Protecting this right remains a cornerstone for any genuine democratic path.
To access the report: Between Freedom and Repression
