As Tunisian authorities continue to carry out mass arrests of people from sub-Saharan Africa as part of a campaign against irregular migration, Black Tunisians report that they are experiencing increasing amounts of abuse. Black Tunisian women activists are now speaking out about this rampant racial profiling, denouncing the racist climate and showing support for the people targeted by the anti-migrant campaign.

Using a hashtag that roughly translates as “carrying my papers, because you never know”, Black Tunisian women are denouncing the arbitrary arrests, racist profiling and identity checks that they have experienced since mid-February when the government launched a so-called security campaign aimed at clamping down on undocumented migrants from sub-Saharan Africa.

Maha Abdelhamid, an organiser with the Tunisian collective Voix des Femmes Tunisiennes Noires (Black Tunisian Women's Voices), called on Black Tunisian women to share photos of themselves with their Tunisian identity cards.

The aim is to show their solidarity with sub-Saharan migrants, the targets of a wave of mass arrests and xenophobic political discourse. They also want to raise awareness about the violence experienced by Black people in Tunisia, citizens or not.

Ezzahra recounted that the woman called out to her in the street, believing that she was a migrant from sub-Saharan Africa.

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