The Director of Passport Control at the Ras Ajdir border crossing, Najmi Muammar has confirmed the resumption of passenger traffic at the Ras Ajadir crossing with Tunisia, Sunday, after a 9-hour halt.
Muammar said in a press statement that the Libyan side stopped the crossing of quantities of smuggled goods, while the Tunisian side closed the crossing due to a group of Tunisian citizens opposing this action, organizing a sit-in in the Ben Gardane area.
A number of merchants in the Tunisian city of Ben Guerdane had closed the Ras Ajdir border crossing with Libya; in protest against what they described as “restriction on the movement of trade and exchange of goods” between the two countries, according to what was reported by local media and social network pages of Tunisian activists.
Protesters burned tires, while one of the merchants, in a statement to Radio Jafara FM, criticized what he described as "continuing restrictions on them when practicing their commercial activities."
Jawhara FM Radio quoted merchants at the crossing as saying that "their protest came as a result of the restrictions that are being exercised on the activity of inter-trade that they use, which affected their livelihood," they said.
Video clips circulated on Tunisian social networks showed columns of fumes from burning tires, while some protesters gathered around them and cars were stranded in long queues.