Police tear gas demonstrators in Tunis

A protester waves the Tunisian flag as he watches a demonstration against President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, in Tunis. -AP Photo

TUNIS: Police fired massive volleys of tear gas and deployed troops in Tunis Friday to disperse thousands of demonstrators calling for President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to step down.

The police acted when reinforcements tried to join protesters gathered for several hours outside the interior ministry, sending crowds fleeing from the main Bourguiba Avenue amid choking clouds of gas, AFP reporters said.

The crowd dispersed in minutes but some demonstrators hurled stones, chairs and sidewalk-cafe umbrellas at the police.

Police reinforcements arrived as military armoured vehicles took up position outside the ministry. Anti-riot units chased young protesters into residential buildings and through the commercial centre.

Marchers demonstrated across Tunisia Friday, emboldened by Ben Alis dramatic pledge late Thursday to step down in 2014 in a bid to quell weeks of unrest.

The interior ministry has been criticised for its harsh crackdown on protests that erupted mid-December in the worst unrest faced by the 23 years of Ben Alis iron-fisted rule.

Police had earlier initially tried to stop marchers from reaching the ministry but later let them through, with the building surrounded by security forces that were also stationed on the rooftop and filmed the protesters.

The interior ministry is a ministry of terror, the crowd shouted, paying tribute to the blood of the martyrs.

A Paris-based rights group says 66 people have been killed in unrest that kicked off in mid-December, several times higher than the official toll.


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