Tunis (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Interior Ministry has decreed the dismissal of four Tunisian police who threatened and beat the owners and customers of a bar that was open during the day in the period of fasting of Ramadan.
The four are the police chief of Monastir district, at the center of the country, and three officers of Marsa, a suburb north of the capital. All were fired for "abuse of power", regarding "cases of bars open during the time of fasting."
The fact shows how the secular state is applied in Tunisia, a 97.4% Muslim country.
During the month of Ramadan, which began last week, Muslim faithful must abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex from sunrise to sunset. Out of respect or fear many bars and restaurants are closed during the day or put sheets of newspaper on their windows to hide the inside.
The bar was open and the Monastir district leader felt compelled to "insult and brutalize" customers who fled from the room. In addition one of the policemen took a chair and chased a waitress out onto the street beating her.
Unlike other Islamic countries, in Tunisia there is no law that prohibits people from eating or drinking in public during the month of Ramadan. Thus the bar owner filed a complaint against the policeman.