"Tunisia faces two immediate challenges: saving lives and livelihoods until the pandemic wanes, and starting to bring economic imbalances back to a sustainable trajectory."
The protests come as the North African nation struggles to stem the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has crippled the economy and threatened to overwhelm hospitals.
The Ocean Viking is currently the only NGO rescue vessel operating in the area.
There are around 20,000 troops and mercenaries from countries including Turkey and Russia, according to the UN.
"Some were arrested without even having taken part in the demonstrations," said Bassem Trifi of the Tunisian League of Human Rights.
Comment: The ideals of the Arab Spring remain out of reach for many. But the quest for freedom, though long and uneven, is inevitable and unstoppable, writes Mohamed ElBaradei.
While the European Union is putting in place regulations to stifle this approach, London relies on legal loopholes to carry on with business as usual.
Tunisians took to the streets to demand the release of hundreds of young demonstrators arrested during protests.
Libyan envoys at UN-backed talks agreed to hold a constitutional referendum before planned elections, Egypt's foreign ministry said.
Ibrahim Al-Bartaji appeared to break the silence of Tunisia’s divided political leadership on the protests in a formal statement to parliament.