© Christophe Ena/APProtesters burn a photo of former Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his wife Leila during a demonstration in Tunis
Tunisian police today used teargas on Monday to try to disperse protesters who gathered at the prime minister's office as part of a campaign to remove a government linked to the ousted president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
Reuters witnesses saw the protesters, most of whom came to the capital from marginalised rural areas, surge into the compound area by the office and break several windows in the finance ministry building.
More than a week after the prime minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi, took the reins of an interim coalition following the overthrow of Ben Ali, he and other former loyalists of the feared ruling party face mounting pressure to step down.
But the shape any eventual popular leadership might take is unclear. Formal opposition parties exist, but are not well known after decades of oppression. A hitherto banned Islamist party has called for early elections and may find support.
© Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty ImagesProtesters demonstrate outside Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi's office in Tunis. Thousands rallied in the main government quarter calling Ghannouchi to resign
"As for my post as a minister, I see it as a way to help my country at a difficult moment. I am not insisting on staying in the government," he told France's Le Figaro newspaper. He said his main concern was that the country might "descend into chaos".
For days, protesters have gathered at the premier's office, limited in numbers but tolerated by police anxious for their own futures after Ben Ali's departure. The demonstrators enjoy wide support among a population unused to free political expression.
Since Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia earlier this month, police had only used teargas once against protesters, who had gathered on the central Habib Bourguiba Boulevard.
On Sunday, amid weekend calm, hundreds of people who had been driven to the capital in a "freedom caravan" surrounded Ghannouchi's building in central Tunis.
Many were from Sidi Bouzid, a bleak city in central Tunisia where the Jasmine revolution over poverty, corruption and political repression was sparked a month ago by the suicide of a young man.
Source: Reuters
© Zohra Bensemra/ReutersTunisian women hold photographs of their sons outside the justice ministry, where protesters gathered to demand the release of those imprisoned by the regime of ousted leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali on suspicions of terrorism
© Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty ImagesA boy waits in his school in the centre of Tunis. Many primary schools remained shut on 24 January despite a government order to re-open after teachers called an 'unlimited' strike in protest against the national unity government installed after Ben Ali's 23-year rule ended
© Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesRachid Ammar, the army's chief of staff, addresses protesters at the City Hall monument near the prime minister's office in Tunis
© EPAA Tunisian protester near a wall with the words 'long life to free Tunisia'
© Finbarr O'reilly/ReutersA man from rural Tunisia takes part in a demonstration in front of the prime minister's office in the capital, Tunis
© Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty ImagesA protester sleeps outside Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi's office in Tunis
© Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesProtesters climb the City Hall monument near the prime minister's office to listen to armjy chief of staff Rachid Ammar in Tunis, Tunisia
© Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty ImagesProtesters demonstrate outside Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi's office in Tunis
© Zohra Bensemra/ReutersProtesters from Tunisia's marginalised rural heartlands chant slogans as they march towards the prime minister's office in central Tunis
© Zohra Bensemra/ReutersProtesters from Tunisia's marginalised rural heartlands hold up a torn picture of ousted leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali as they march towards central Tunis
© Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesA young female protester outside the Tunisian prime minister's office in Tunis. Protesters from the countryside walked through the night to descend on the prime minister's office where they tore down razor wire barricades
Reader Comments
to our Newsletter