Tunisian citizens’ backlash against the Saudi crown prince shows it’s possible to choose morality over economic benefits

Citizens seemed aware of the difference Saudi aid might make to them, yet they took to the streets in droves anyway

Against rumours of billions of dollars in Saudi aid, they mobilised. Heading to the city centres of Tunis and the southern city of Sfax, the disparate strands of Tunisia’s civil society came together, collectively rejecting both the presence and benevolence of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

The prince, a near-pariah in the western states that he courted with millions after his alleged involvement in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi (which he denies), was on a tour intended to underscore his popular regional support ahead of the G20 summit on Friday. However, in addition to the possibility of criminal charges being levelled against him should he land in Argentina, Tunisia’s protests have marked a further rejection of the crown prince’s influence and appeal.

“We know, just looking at social media, that many people are against this visit,” one of yesterday’s protest organisers told me. Tarek Kahlaoui, an academic and former politician, added: “I think the media campaign intended to whiten his reputation has turned out to have achieved the opposite.”

Saudi Arabia, sat next to loyal allies of Bahrain, Egypt and the UAE, made a strange decision in picking Tunisia as a stopping off point. In 2011, Tunisia had been the first of the Arab countries to revolt against the type of absolute autocracy many on Avenue Habib Bourguiba felt was embodied in the prince.

“The Tunisian revolution ... cannot agree to receive him and allow him to clean himself of a murder,” Soukaina Abdessamad of the journalists’ union was reported as saying. “We will stage protests on Monday and Tuesday.”

The night before, during an impromptu show on the steps of Tunis’ Municipal Theatre, demonstrators had portrayed the prince as a clown, gaily sending paper planes over the cowering people of Yemen who pleaded for his mercy in vain.

The following day, on the streets of the capital, they carried pictures of the suffering in Yemen, while others held placards featuring the bone saw apparently used to dismember Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Many wore the black and white keffiyeh of Palestine and chanted their disgust at the rumoured bribe their government had been offered to stay quiet while Saudi Arabia continued to work with Israel against Palestinian ends.

Civil society’s rejection of the prince’s visit went beyond the streets and the symbolic lawsuit taken out by a cadre of lawyers to prevent it. Disapproval hung on a giant banner on the side of the journalists’ union, where above an image of the crown prince carrying a bone saw ran the legend, “No to the desecration of Tunisia, land of the revolution”. Another banner, this time on the walls of the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD), showed the prince carrying a whip with the legend, “The women’s lasher is not welcomed”.

Taken on the country’s balance sheet alone, it’s hard to say if the protesters’ stance was principled or foolhardy. Reeling from a general strike that paralysed Tunisia’s public sector last week, the country’s economic situation is desperate. Inflation continues to run at more than 7 per cent, while unemployment hovers at around 15 per cent nationally, rising as high as 30 per cent in some of the country’s hardscrabble interior regions. The Tunisian dinar, driven by a yawning trade deficit and the unyielding pressure of the International Monetary Fund, continues to plummet as the cost of living continues to rise.

Few among the several hundred marching in central Tunisia yesterday would have escaped the deprivations of the deteriorating economy. They seemed aware of the difference Saudi aid might make to them and their lives. Historically, the kingdom has been a generous benefactor to the cash-strapped North African state. It’s been disputed, but the Egyptian newspaper Al-Musawwar claimed Saudi Arabia was preparing to deposit some $2bn into Tunisia’s central bank, as well as offering fuel and military support.

Nevertheless, where their own government – plus those of the US, the UK and the quiescent Arab states slated for the crown prince’s royal tour – have remained relatively silent on Khashoggi, Yemen and the kingdom’s regional machinations, those on the streets of Tunis elected to speak out.

How far their voices will travel is uncertain.