TUNIS - Tunisia expelled the head of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) on Saturday after she took part in an anti-government protest organised by the country's UGTT union, one of Tunisia's leading political forces.
The UGTT said the expulsion was "shocking" and opened up a confrontation with labour unions around the world.
Tunisian President Kais Saied declared the ETUC's Esther Lynch "persona non grata" and said the Irish citizen must leave the country within 24 hours.
Lynch's participation in the protests and remarks she made were a "blatant interference in Tunisian affairs", the government said.
Thousands of members of the UGTT took to the streets of eight Tunisian cities on Saturday to protest against Saied's policies, accusing him of trying to stifle basic freedoms including union rights.
Addressing one of the protests, Lynch called for the immediate release of detained union officials.
"We condemn this shocking decision ... it not only contains a confrontation against UGTT, but rather a with the international union movement", Sami Tahri, the senior official in the UGTT, said.
He added that Lynch was being harassed and even prevented from leaving her hotel for dinner.
The protests in eight cities marked an escalation in the union's confrontation with Saied and followed its criticism of the recent arrests of several anti-government figures including politicians, a journalist, two judges and a senior UGTT official.
Saturday's mass protests marked an escalation in the union's campaign against Saied and followed its criticism of recent arrests of several anti-government figures, including politicians, a journalist, two judges and a senior UGTT official.
The arrests have raised concerns of a wider crackdown on dissents and prompted the UN Human Rights Office to call for their immediate release.
In Saturday's demonstrations, thousands of protesters in the southern city of Sfax carried national flags and banners with slogans including "Stop the attack on union freedoms" and "Cowardly Saied, the union is not afraid".
Senior UGTT official Othman Jalouli told the crowd Saied's government "wants to silence the voice of the union".
Protests also took place in the cities of Jendouba, Tozeur, Monastir, Bizerte, Kasserine, Kairouan and Nabeul.
More protests are planned in other cities in the coming days, concluding with a rally in the capital, Tunis, early next month.
Addressing the Sfax protest, Lynch, confederal secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, said she had come to convey a message of support from 45 million European trade unionists and called for the immediate release of detained union officials.
Prior to the recent wave of arrests, police detained another UGTT official over a strike by toll booth workers last month and launched an investigation into 14 other transport union officials over a different strike.
The UGTT, which has more than a million members and has brought the country to a virtual standstill during strikes, has denounced such measures, saying the government was trying to stifle freedoms of expression in a bid to deflect attention from the country's economic troubles.
Saied, who shut down parliament in 2021, seizing most powers and moving to rule by decree before writing a new constitution, said this week that authorities do not target freedoms, but seek to hold everyone accountable equally.
In his first comments after the arrests, he accused "traitors" of being responsible for price increases and food shortages and wanted to fuel a social crisis.
REUTERS