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600 protesters arrested in Tunisia

11 May 2011 01:20 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. At least 600 people have been arrested during the past five days of protests in Tunisia as post-revolution unrest continues in the North African country, APA reports quoting Press TV.

The Tunisian Interior Ministry said on Tuesday that the detainees had committed offenses such as theft, arson, possession of weapons, and breach of a curfew that had been imposed to quell protests, AFP reported.

Demonstrations initially held over soaring living costs and unemployment developed into anti-government protests in January that brought down former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who had been in power for 23 years.

Since then, the Tunisian people have continued holding demonstrations, demanding a clean sweep of the old guard from the interim government.

Protests broke out last Thursday after former Interior Minister Farhat Rajhi claimed that the cronies of Ben Ali were contemplating a military coup to block the rise of Islamist parties in the run-up to elections in July.

Rajhi, who was serving as the head of the human rights commission in the interim government, later retracted his remarks.

But apparently Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi was not satisfied, and he removed Rajhi from his new post.

Meanwhile, a young man was killed in Tunis on Sunday when security forces opened fire to disperse protesters.

Essebsi has said the transitional government still plans to hold elections on July 24 but technical problems could delay the vote.