Agency Report
Tunisian authorities arrested four people after the state railway company mistakenly flew the Turkish flag instead of the national one, as efforts are stepped up to enforce ultra-patriotic fervor ahead of October elections.
A fifth individual is being questioned as investigations continue into the mix-up that occurred Tuesday in the capital, Tunis, local broadcaster Mosaique FM reported, citing a court spokesman. It wasn’t clear of what crime they are being accused.
Images of the error spread widely on social media. The events prompted a profuse apology from railway monopoly SNCFT, which said a “foreign flag” had slipped into a batch of new Tunisian ones it had bought.
The two flags have the same colors and both bear the Islamic symbols of a star and crescent, with the most noticeable difference being a white circle on the Tunisian one.
SNCFT on Tuesday announced it had removed the wrong flag, apologizing in a statement for the mix-up and saying an investigation had been launched.
It said the Turkish flag had been purchased by mistake, and that the staff “didn’t notice until it was raised.”
The blunder did not go unnoticed on social media, and on Wednesday Mosaique FM radio and other Tunisian news outlets said four railway workers had been arrested.
The media reports did not elaborate on the identities of those arrested or the charges they may face.
In May, the covering of the national flag at a sporting event in Tunis, due to sanctions from the World Anti-Doping Agency, led to the arrests of three officials.
The sports officials faced charges including “attack on the flag of Tunisia” and “plot against the internal security” of the state, and were released last week after a three-month sentence.
The incident provoked outrage from Tunisian President Kais Saied. Photos from the May flag incident showed Kais in tears during a visit to the venue.
Saied is accused of stifling dissent and fanning nationalism in the economically troubled North African country. He’s widely expected to win a second term in the Oct. 6 vote.