Tunisia extends 2015 state of emergency

Tunisia has extended for another three months a state of emergency in place since a 2015 jihadist attack, the president’s office announced on Thursday.
President Beji Caid Essebsi has decided “to extend the state of emergency for three months from 16 February”, his office said.
The state of emergency has been in place since a November 2015 jihadist bombing in Tunis that killed 12 presidential guards on a bus.
The Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group claimed the attack as well as bombings earlier in 2015 at the Bardo National Museum and at a beach resort that killed 59 foreign tourists and a Tunisian guard.
They were part of an ongoing jihadist insurgency since a 2011 revolution toppled long-time dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
The government has repeatedly renewed the state of emergency despite its assurances that security has improved in the North African state.
The state of emergency grants emergency powers to the police and in theory grants authorities the right to prohibit strikes and meetings likely to provoke “disorder”.