Armed Tunisian Police ‘Paralyzed By Fear,’ Allegedly Watched As Gunman Shot Tourists

According to witnesses to the June 26 Muslim terror attack in Tunisia, armed police “arrived at the scene within minutes,” but were too “paralyzed by fear” to intervene.

“A spokesman for Tunisia’s interior ministry, Mohamed Ali Aroui, said over the weekend that the police arrived ‘within seven minutes’ of the beginning of the attack.” By the time the attack ended 23 minutes later, 38 people had been fatally wounded by gunman Seifeddine Rezgui.

According to the UK Independent, one witness said young people were running up to the police saying, “We’re not afraid of dying; give [the gun] to us.” There are claims that they were given a gun and “ran up to the pool area, shooting in the air to get [the gunman’s] attention, but then the gun jammed. The gunman turned around, threw a grenade at them and chased after them.”

A Belgian tourist said, “Many people on the beach were supporting the youths as they went into the hotel.” She said people shouted, ‘This is the real Tunisia!’”

A woman who was hiding during the attack claims she saw a person “in black” hiding by a stairwell throughout the horrific incident. She was unsure whether he was “a lookout for the gunman or a security officer.”

Political analyst Sarah Ben Hamadi commented responded, “There would have been less victims if the police had been present more quickly. This is inadmissable after Bardo. They knew that there was a heightened menace in the tourist zone during Ramadan.”

But if the police arrived within minutes their response time was not the problem. The problem seems to lie in what the police did or did not do once they arrived.

On June 29, Breitbart News reported that the Tunisian government is responding to the attacks by closing 80 radical mosques. And the Sydney Morning Herald reports that “political parties and associations promoting radical teachings, including those with suspicious funding sources, would be closed down” as well.

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.