Economic stagnation and the handling of the global health crisis have eaten away at their optimism.

And now they are taking to the streets.

A decade after mass protests toppled Tunisia's longtime president, sparking uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa, 19 year old I men has a simple explanation for the night time clashes between youths like himself and police.

He has nothing to lose way began the protest by lighting, fire, throwing rocks and Molotov breaking in.

That's how right through government is robbing us.

Ministers are robbing us also on.

You want people not to steal thieve government, rob us and then sit at home.

Watching us get taken by the police shouldn't have come.

Thousands of protesters have marched through cities across the country demanding jobs, dignity and an end to police violence.

It has seen some of the worst political unrest in years.

Police say most of the hundreds arrested this week are between 15 and 20 years old.

Mohammed, who has only given his first name out of fear over the consequences, is out of school and unemployed When Reuters spoke to him, he was in an alleyway in the as a Rooney district, passing around cigarettes, soda bottles in marijuana with other young men.

E want to leave Tunisia?

What am I doing here?

My life here is bad.

It's possible Europe is better.

At least there I could do something here.

I can't do anything.

But next time changed over two years ago.

For me, what happened in this protest is the right thing because the government is robbing us because people became angry on went out so they could steal.

Also since Tunisia's 2011 revolution ousted autocratic leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, successive governments have struggled with high deficit on demands for state jobs and services.

The current government is considered one of the weakest since the revolution, backed by a fragile coalition of rival parties after 2019 elections produced a deeply fragmented parliament.

It's not only battling widespread discontent, but also the global health crisis, which thrust Tunisia's economy into even deeper difficulty.

Speaking on Tuesday, Prime Minister Isham Macci said he understood the economic frustration that lay behind the unrest, but vowed to confront any violence.