Tunisian politician denies fleeing to Montreal
One of the most powerful members of Tunisia's ruling class is denying rumours he fled to Montreal amid protests in the North African country that threaten the government's stability.
"I want to answer those who said that I fled: we don't want to leave" El Materi says in Arabic. "We have no reason to flee our vast and beautiful country."
The video purports to have been shot in Tunisia and was posted online Thursday morning, eastern time.
At one point in the five-minute clip, El Materi tells someone off-screen: "Look, I'm right in front of you. That's proof that I'm in Tunisia."
Tunisia has been brought to a virtual standstill as thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets to protest high unemployment and the country's stifling political climate.
The protesters have taken issue with the autocratic rule of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his family's lavish lifestyle, with El Materi often cited as the prime example of that lifestyle.
Since Tuesday, the internet has been rife with reports that El Materi left the country for Montreal.
El Materi and his wife have a two-year-old daughter who was born in Canada, and they own a home reportedly worth $2.5 million in Montreal's upscale Westmount neighbourhood.
Tunisian group stakes out airport
According to Haroun Bouazzi, a spokesperson for a local Tunisian solidarity group, close to 100 critics of the regime rushed to Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport to greet an incoming plane Tuesday.
Witnesses saw Tunisian consular officials at the airport as well as a waiting limousine, but no one actually saw El Materi, Bouazzi said.
A group of people then made its way to the Westmount home, where there was no answer at the door.
Bouazzi said someone also tried calling a local hotel where El Materi was thought to be staying, but a receptionist allegedly told the caller that a reservation for El Materi had been cancelled.
"There is no proof of a date on the video which claims it was shot today [Thursday] in Tunisia," Bouazzi said. "There is nothing to say the video wasn't shot earlier."
Bouazzi suggested El Materi is likely still in Montreal but said no one in his group has seen him.
Calls to the Tunisian consulate in Montreal were not returned. Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs also did not respond to media inquiries.
El Materi's name is often circulated when talking about a possible heir to Ben Ali, who has ruled the country since taking power in a bloodless coup in 1987.
El Materi owns Princess El Materi Holdings, a company that includes several newspapers. He is also a member of Parliament and a leading official in Ben Ali's ruling party.