Tunisia: "We walk into the unknown"

The disturbances are amplified in Tunisia where the government acknowledged in a statement Sunday, January 9, the death of eight civilians killed by gunfire in clashes with police, five in the town of Thala and three others in the city Kessarine. The opposition, which met urgently in Tunis, for its part, the advance figure of twenty dead.

"We walk into the unknown," said Le Monde's former presidential candidate Ahmed Brahim, first secretary of Ettadjdid, a post-communist party which has two MPs in parliament. "We need the power to act together and withdraw forces from cities they surround. These "clashes were continuing this morning [Sunday]," said Ahmed Nejub Chebbi, head of the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) without parliamentary representative.

Several witnesses claimed that the army had taken positions around several government buildings and banks, including Thala in the west, near Kasserine. For now, Le Monde has been able to collect the identity of eleven people were killed by bullets. But the toll could rise. "I have visited the hospital in Kasserine, I saw many wounded and dead also, but I am unable to give numbers," said Chabar Mezi, teacher union, upset, reached by phone Sunday after afternoon.

Earlier in the morning, the Tunisian government had finally break his silence by announcing the death of two civilians killed by bullets. "Police opened fire in self defense after conducting fire warning shots to stop protesters to attack government buildings," said the Interior Ministry in a statement quoted by the Agence Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP).

The Tunisian authorities also mention eight wounded among security forces, including three serious. Tunisia has since December 17 a wave of revolt across the country after the suicide of a young street vendor who had set himself on fire in Sidi Bouzid, in the heart of Tunisia. Since then, demonstrations are held daily in various cities and at least five other people have committed suicide, often by self-immolation.

Isabelle Mandraud

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