Tunisia's president - whose country has been embattled by weeks of street protests over poor living conditions and repression of rights - has dissolved the government and declared a state of emergency, state TV said Friday.
President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who announced concessions to meet some grievances the day before in a nationally televised TV address, made the moves in reaction to the instability in the North African country.
Officials said the reason for the emergency declaration is to protect Tunisians and their private property. People are not allowed on the street from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m.
People in gatherings of three or more will be arrested or they will be fired on if they try to run away and can't be stopped.
Ben Ali also will call for parliamentary elections within six months. The government sacking comes days after the president dumped the interior minister and fired a couple of aides.
Earlier Friday, police, wielding batons and firing tear gas, dispersed demonstrators, a show of force that aggravated a peaceful gathering in the capital.
Security forces were seen brutally beating protesters, and the demonstrators fled amid the security show of force. Fires were seen in the center of Tunis and downtown, and smoke was coming from a couple of locations.
The unrest underscores concerns among Tunisians and in the international community that security forces have been badly overreacting to peaceful gatherings
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symptoms of dictatosship.
this is where all the good tuna comes from
NO THEY ARE VERY VERY BAD TUNA, BELEIVE ME. OTHERWISE, THE FRENCH WOULD NEVER EVER GAVE UP THAT TERRITORY.
Ignorant it concerns a great nation and you re talking abt Tuna!!! How saddd, i better disappear than to read comments of illiterate ignorant as you....
OPEN YOUR EYES AND READ WHAT YOUR OWN PRESIDENT THINKS ABOUT TUNISIA :
" I applaud the courage and dignity of the Tunisian people," Obama said in a statement.
"The United States stands with the entire international community in bearing witness to this brave and determined struggle for the universal rights that we must all uphold, and we will long remember the images of the Tunisian people seeking to make their voices heard.
More right-wing bla-bla-bla from Barack Obama,but did he actually mean it?
try small pieces of apple in your tuna on your next sandwich,quite tasty.
What the Tunisians need to do is to try to get their economy in order and stop catering to the interests of NATO.
I totally agree,Daniel. Good post.
Did someone blog catering?
I might have but I don't know any more. This Barack Obama has got me all mixed up along with Hilary Clinton. Will this revolution work???
you are SASSY! how bout a lunch date.
no revolution.. Evolution. And without the cowboy ghetto n.r.a. Values... N.r.a values defeated. Genius in action. Maybe american cowboys can mess this up in the name of family values... Blah blah blah blah...
It's remarkable to see natural revolutionin an Arab country- too bad we can't get this kind of spontaneous spark in other such emirates...maybe with a little more attention to covert ops and a little less military pressure? Most human problems of international concern can be resolved by a busboy with a silenced Glock...