Tunisia lodged a formal protest with France late Wednesday over the fatal shooting of Tunisian citizen Abdelkader Dhibi by French police in Marseille on Sept. 2.
Acting on instructions from President Kais Saied, the Secretary of State to the Foreign Minister summoned the French Embassy’s chargé d’affaires on Sept. 3—while the ambassador was abroad—to deliver a strongly worded complaint, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on Facebook.
Tunisia “considers the incident an unjustified killing” and expects French authorities to act “with full firmness and speed” to investigate and determine responsibility, the ministry said.
According to initial accounts, Dhibi—armed with two knives and a baton—was shot after refusing police orders to drop his weapons. He had reportedly wounded five people following an eviction from a hotel over unpaid rent.