In pictures: Tunisians on the margins find escape in ram fighting

The rams stamped in the dust and charged, butting horns with a crash that drew roars from the crowd on a dusty wasteground near the Old City of Tunis, where young men on the margins of society rear animals to fight. | Above: People watch ram fighting in Bab Souika district.

The rams were raised by two groups of men in the city's Bab Souika district who said the sport gave them a connection to their neighbourhoods and history, and an escape from unemployment, dreams of migration and COVID-19 restrictions.

In the vaulted cellar down a cobbled alley where they keep their ram, one group said few of them had jobs and that the 2011 revolution that brought democracy to Tunisia had not changed their lives. Above: Men stand outside a cellar where they keep 2Pac the ram.

"This is something that lets us get away from our cares," said Mourad (right), owner of the ram 2Pac which he looks after with a dozen or so friends who had gathered there, most of them in their 20s. "Nothing changed in this neighbourhood after the revolution. Prices went up and nothing changed."

Behind a gate their ram, "2Pac", was chained to a ring in the cracked tile floor, pawing at the straw. Religious charms and a hand drum hung from nails above.

Popular across North Africa, ram fighting is restricted in Tunisia. | Above: Mourad is seen next to his ram 2Pac during a ram fighting in Bab Souika.

Mourad holds his ram 2Pac before ram fighting. Fights need a police licence that is seldom given and animal rights groups criticise them as cruel.

Mourad, owner of the ram 2Pac, which he looks after with his friends, sit together before ram fighting in Bab Souika.

People gather as they watch ram fighting in Bab Souika district, near the Old City of Tunis.