Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, now finds itself in crisis 10 years on.
After a decade of stalled progress, its economy is struggling and the government blames "illegal" African migrants for overrunning the country's limited resources.
President Kais Saied has launched a widespread crackdown on his political opponents, singling out undocumented migrants and prompting a surge in violent attacks against black Tunisians, foreign students, and sub-Saharan workers.
Migrants have reported being kicked out of their homes, fired from their jobs and assaulted at school.
In response to the deteriorating situation, Ivory Coast and Guinea repatriated their citizens in Tunisia, and coastguards have noted an increase in the number of people attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Italy.
The World Bank has suspended its partnership with Tunisia over "completely unacceptable attacks and racist violence", the United Nations has condemned xenophobic rhetoric "intended to fuel racial hatred", and the US has expressed "deep concerns".
So after a decade, how has Tunisia ended up here?
How the Arab Spring brought Kais Saied to power
In 2010, Tunisia's revolution was the spark that set off a wave of protests across the Middle East and North Africa.
Simmering discontent fuelled by reports of widespread corruption erupted into nationwide outrage when street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself alight in a desperate act of protest.
Within weeks, longtime president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted and chased into exile, clearing the way for a fresh start.
While successive governments tried to rebuild and address the systemic problems that had driven protesters to the streets, Tunis-based journalist Firas Kefi says there were issues with how the country tried to establish itself as a democracy.
"The reasons that led to the revolution are still present, such as unemployment, corruption and favouritism. And transitional justice wasn't fulfilled," he said.
"The mismanagement of the democratic experience … and the catastrophic economic policies that led to huge debts left the economy on the edge of a volcano."
Unemployment rates soared and the cost of living rose, while trust in government fell.
Tunisia falling apart at the seams paved the way for Kais Saied to run for president in 2019.
Rising to power on a wave of populism and a promise to root out corruption, Mr Saied won with more than 70 per cent of the popular vote.
In office, he has struggled to improve the country's economic status, showing little interest in securing a $US1.9 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.
In 2021, Mr Saied announced a state of emergency, dissolved parliament and fired his prime minister in what critics called a self-coup.
He passed a new constitution giving him greater powers in 2022, and granted himself authority over the country's judiciary.
Since then, he has doubled down on his opponents, targeting politicians, judges, prominent business leaders and the labour unions that played an integral role in the 2011 revolution.
Then on February 21, in an address to the country's National Security Council, President Kais Saied called for "urgent measures" to address the entry of irregular immigrants from sub-Saharan countries.
He declared that there was "a criminal arrangement" underway "to change the demographic composition of Tunisia".
The speech echoed the great replacement theory, a 19th century conspiracy positing that white Europeans are being demographically and culturally replaced by non-white populations, especially from Muslim-majority countries.
Immigrants account for about 0.5 per cent of Tunisia's population, with one recent study putting the number of sub-Saharan African migrants in Tunisia at 21,000.
Mr Saied has rejected accusations that his comments encouraged anti-black racism in Tunisia, and denounced what he called a "malicious interpretation" of his comments.
Tunisia's complex history of anti-black racism and ties to the slave trade
The rising tensions have stoked fears amongst minority communities in Tunisia.
Saadia Mosbah, a leading activist for the rights of black Tunisians, says the situation has intensified fiercely.
"We used to hear about only about two or three attacks in Sfax, once in Tunis and once in Sousa … but now the attack is collective," she said.
"When you see ticket windows in the capital, for example, you'd find a big sign that says 'tickets won't be sold to sub-Saharan foreigners'.
"And when [black Tunisians] take trains, they kick them out … people buy tickets but they still kick them from the train."
Journalists have also been targeted in the recent wave of arrests, including the director of the country's first independent radio station.
"Tunisia is heading in a very dark direction … we're talking about some scary charges that are just made up, like conspiracy against the country or treason," said Souhail Khmira, another journalist who has been covering the unrest in Tunisia.
"It's scary to say the least."
Ms Mosbah fears the current political situation has simply encouraged some Tunisians to "show their true colours".
The country has a long history of anti-black racism, linked with its ties to the African slave trade.
Houda Mzioudet, a researcher in North African affairs at the University of Toronto, says even after Tunisia abolished slavery in 1846 — 19 years before the US — black Tunisians were disenfranchised and excluded.
After Tunisia claimed independence from France in 1956, state policies to outline a homogenised national identity effectively "erased any ethnic, religious and racial component of the diverse Tunisian population".
"They were made invisible," Ms Mzioudet said.
She says the 2011 revolutions helped break long-standing social taboos around institutional racism, leading to ground-breaking law reform.
"Black Tunisian activists have been working hard to assert their rights and those of black African migrants … and lobbying to Tunisian policy-makers and MPs to … criminalise racial discrimination," Ms Mzioudet said.
These efforts finally paid off in October 2018, when Tunisia passed Law 50, which aims to "eliminate all forms and manifestations of racial discrimination" and sets the penalty for racist language or acts at up to a year in prison.
But just six years after Law 50 passed, racially motivated attacks are being endorsed by the highest office.
The 'scapegoat' for Tunisia's duelling crises
Tunisia is facing many problems off the back of its worsening economy.
A chronic shortage of necessities including food, fuel and medicine and the prospect of a global recession coupled with high inflation is exacerbating the wealth divide in the country.
And Tunisia is in the middle of its worst drought on record, with the state water distributor cutting off water supplies for seven hours a night to preserve resources.
Mr Kefi argues black Tunisians and sub-Saharan migrants are being used to draw attention away from Mr Saied's governmental mismanagement.
"The shortage of many basic materials such as petrol, sugar, water, milk leads to panic. And with this unresponsiveness and lack of engagement … the government had to find a scapegoat," he said.
The spotlight is now on the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean.
More than 14,000 refugees, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, were rescued or intercepted by the national guard in the first three months of this year — five times the figure recorded in the same period last year.
And dozens of those refugees have drowned or gone missing as boats sink off the Tunisian coast.
Ms Mzioudet says Mr Saied saw an opportunity to shore up his legitimacy in Europe by pushing back harder against refugees.
"Rounding up sub-Saharan African migrants did not represent any moral issue for him [if it was done] in the name of sovereignty and protection of Tunisian nation from foreign conspirators," she said.
The president's choice to double down will no doubt complicate the relationship with European nations that rely on Tunisia to limit migration but are now looking to distance themselves from the increasingly authoritarian regime.
In the meantime, many of the people who call Tunisia home are bearing the cost.
