![]() Meanwhile, workmen contracted by La Renaissance began building Residence Amira, a housing complex of 12 apartments whose half-finished shell towers over Sophie Marsa. Mr Ben Rhouma and 14 female tenants were detained, he said, with police bullying the women into signing pledges not to impede La Renaissance. Finally Mr Ben Mansour called the police. "You may kill me, but you will not enter the garden," he said.įor more than an hour the two sides argued. Also present was Amira Mahjoub, a niece of the former first lady, Leila Trabelsi, who last year married Mr Mzabi, said Mr Ben Rhouma.Īs other tenants poured into the street, Mr Ben Rhouma moved to block the tractor. With the tractor were workmen led by Slim Ben Mansour and Habib Mzabi, the co-owners of La Renaissance, a development company. "I dashed down to the street and found a tractor breaking the garden wall," said Moncef Ben Rhouma, a watch repairman and father of four who has since emerged as a leader of the six families living in the building. ![]() The stand-off began one afternoon in June 2009, when tenants were startled by a loud crash from the garden. With the two sides locked in a court battle, the affair illustrates a key part of Tunisia's democratic transition: addressing claims of corruption involving Mr Ben Ali and his extended family. Today the property is contested by long-time tenants and a development company linked to the family of Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia's ousted former president. One story puts French generals there another the mistress of Benito Mussolini. LA MARSA // For a glimpse at the future of Tunisia, look no farther than number 39 Avenue Habib Bourguiba in the seaside town of La Marsa: a grand old house at the centre of a bitter land dispute.īuilt in 1927 and known as Sophie Marsa, the house is a neoclassical palace of high ceilings, marble wainscoting and white balustrades.
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