Tunisia declares national curfew amid unemployment protest violence

A young Tunisian who tried to commit suicide is carried by a member of the army after witnesses said …

Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who was also present at Friday’s discussions, will visit Tunisia by the end of the year to jointly chair the first meeting of a high-level Franco-Tunisian committee.

A week of protests and rioting over unemployment and economic conditions in Tunisia resulted in a nationwide curfew Friday.

The ministry said in a statement that due to the risk to public and private property a curfew would be imposed from 8 p.m.to 5 a.m., starting today.

In central Tunisia, security forces have clashed with protesters in several towns, including in Kasserine where the unrest started, using tear gas against them. The protests then spread to cities throughout the country, including scattered demonstrations in the capital Tunis, where a bank and some stores were looted.

The suicide five years ago of another unemployed youth set off a popular uprising that overthrew Tunisia’s longtime ruler and eventually gave rise to the “Arab Spring” uprisings across North Africa.

The Interior Ministry said the situation was relatively calm on Saturday across most of the country.

He pressed the government to put in place a program to address unemployment.

A policeman was reportedly killed when demonstrators overturned his auto in the town of Feriana.

Mr Essebsi said on Wednesday that more than 6,000 jobs would be given to people from the town of Kasserine.

Several hundred protesters who gathered mid-morning in front of the Kasserine governor’s office were met with fewer security forces than on previous days, an AFP journalist said.

Othman Yahyaoui, the father of young man electrocuted, said his son Ridha, a graduate in electromechanics, was protesting the removal of his name from a list of public sector recruits.

Its young democracy brought a new constitution, a political compromise between secular and Islamist parties and free elections praised as a model for transition in a region where the gun has often beats out the ballot box. “The government’s biggest mistake is trying to solve the unemployment in the region with temporary solutions like giving money or seasonal work instead of creating new industries and projects”, said Kalai.

The latest developments on unrest in Tunisia. A March 2015 attack on the National Bardo Museum in Tunis killed more than 20 people, mostly European tourists.

“We understand well the demands of protesters and they are legitimate”, government spokesman Khaled Chouket said. “We don’t have a magic wand”.