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Tunisia’s young protesters reject ’empty words’

13 January 2011 18:19 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Despite a curfew being imposed in the Tunisian capital during the hours of darkness, young men defied threats not to leave their homes and took their anger onto the streets of the southern suburbs of Tunis, APA reports quoting BBC.
Police who had used tear gas during the day to try to control mobs of angry people fired live rounds. According to reports from eye-witnesses three people in Tunis were killed.
There are unconfirmed reports of deaths at other demonstrations across Tunisia during the past 24 hours.
In the centre of Tunis, armed police and soldiers are evident on many street junctions. Outside the imposing French embassy, the scene of a demonstration on Wednesday, the army has parked two military vehicles and stationed several soldiers.
Tunis is a tourist city and although it is winter and not the height of the holiday season, tour groups looked bemused as they were ushered past security personnel.
The Tunisian government has been shocked by the unfolding events and its inability to control them. And the robust response of the military and the police to the protests has not dissuaded people from demonstrating.
President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, the Tunisian head of state, has sacked the interior minister, promised to release imprisoned protesters and ordered an investigation into claims of high-level corruption, but people I have spoken to in Tunis have described these as empty words.
He has also promised to create 300,000 jobs in Tunisia. One protester said: "Why now? He could have done all this months ago. He doesn’t care about us."
On Thursday, the president called an emergency meeting of government ministers and senior officials to examine if there are other ways of defusing the angry mood, but his options are few.
Incendiary corruption
The wave of trouble began in December when a young man set himself on fire as a desperate response to the police preventing him from running a stall selling fruit and vegetables.
This was the spark which ignited a long-running sense of alienation, particularly among the young. It was a spark applied to a very potent and volatile set of conditions.
President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, the Tunisian head of state, has sacked the interior minister, promised to release imprisoned protesters and ordered an investigation into claims of high-level corruption, but people I have spoken to in Tunis have described these as empty words.
He has also promised to create 300,000 jobs in Tunisia. One protester said: "Why now? He could have done all this months ago. He doesn’t care about us."
On Thursday, the president called an emergency meeting of government ministers and senior officials to examine if there are other ways of defusing the angry mood, but his options are few.
Incendiary corruption
The wave of trouble began in December when a young man set himself on fire as a desperate response to the police preventing him from running a stall selling fruit and vegetables.
This was the spark which ignited a long-running sense of alienation, particularly among the young. It was a spark applied to a very potent and volatile set of conditions.