Tunisia declares state of
emergency amid protests
January 14, 2011 5:40:06 PM
Source News Feed: Reuters World
Service
* Ben Ali declares state of emergency, bans gatherings
* President sacks government, calls early parliamentary poll
* Protests continue despite president's pledge to go in 2014
* 12 killed in overnight clashes - medical sources, witness
(Adds "historic announcement" planned, airspace
closure
By Tarek Amara and Christian Lowe
TUNIS, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Tunisian President Zine al-Abedine
Ben Ali declared a state of emergency on Friday and said protesters would be
shot in an increasingly frantic effort to quell the worst unrest in his two
decades in power.
After Ben Ali had dismissed the government and called an
early parliamentary election, state television later said it expected a
"historic decision" to satisfy popular demands -- leaving it unclear
what further moves Ben Ali intended.
Police had fired tear gas to disperse crowds in central
Tunis demanding his immediate resignation. They were not satisfied with his
promise on Thursday to step down in 2014.
"This state of emergency means that any gathering of
more than three people is forbidden, that arms will be used by security forces
in cases where a suspect does not stop when asked to do so by the police,"
state television said.
Authorities imposed a curfew from 5 p.m. until 7 a.m. State
television said a major announcement would be made soon.
Western countries urged their people to avoid travel to the
popular tourist destination due to the instability.
Air France said it had temporarily suspended all flights to
the Tunisian capital due to the state of emergency and the closure of air
space.
An airport official in Tunis said that troops had surrounded
the city's main airport.
Medical sources and a witness said 12 people died in
overnight clashes in Tunis and the northeastern town of Ras Jebel.
Before the latest casualties, the official death toll in
almost a month of violence was 23. The Paris-based International Federation for
Human Rights said it had a list of at least 66 people killed.
The 74-year-old leader said in a television address on
Thursday he would not seek a sixth term as expected in 2014, following a month
of violent protests against unemployment, repression and corruption.
Tunisia's problems are shared by other countries in the
region, the latest unrest was sparked when police prevented an unemployed
graduate from selling fruit without a licence and he set fire to himself, dying
shortly afterwards of his burns.
Ben Ali, in power since 1987, announced sweeping concessions
in his address, saying forces would no longer use live ammunition against
protesters and promising freedom of the press and an end to Internet
censorship.
He also said the prices of sugar, milk and bread would be
cut.
He reversed course on Friday with the threat to use firearms
after protests continued in the capital and other cities. Around 8,000 people
rallied outside the interior ministry in central Tunis, chanting "Ben Ali,
leave!" and "Ben Ali, assassin!"
After police fired tear gas and wielded their truncheons,
crowds of youths retreated a little way from the building and started throwing
stones at the police, who responded with more tear gas grenades. Reporters also
heard gunfire nearby.
A Reuters photographer saw people looting two big
supermarkets in the Tunis suburb of Enkhilet, about 10 km (6 miles) from the
capital. He said they had set fire to the local police station.
On almost every block in suburban Tunis, people were
standing on the street with baseball bats to protect their cars and homes from
damage by looters, a Reuters reporter said.
For the Tunis protesters, Ben Ali's promise to quit and cut
essential food prices was not enough. "We don't want bread or anything
else, we just want him to leave," they chanted. "After that we will
eat whatever we have to."
The UGTT trade union confederation had called for a general
strike.
EVACUATION
Credit ratings agency Fitch put Tunisia's BBB credit rating
on negative watch for a possible downgrade, citing political uncertainty.
Several countries, including former colonial power France,
Britain and the United States, advised citizens to stay away, threatening the
tourism trade which is Tunisia's economic lifeblood.
Holiday operator Thomas Cook said on Friday it was
evacuating almost 4,000 German, British and Irish tourists from Tunisia and TUI
Travel said it was laying on aircraft for those who wanted to return and
cancelling its next flight on Sunday.
Ben Ali set his departure date in an emotional speech after
weeks of deadly clashes between protesters and police.
U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said the U.N.
stood ready to help investigate the deaths.
"We've made it clear we believe there needs to be
investigations. A large number of people have been killed and there are very
serious allegations of the manner of these killings," Colville told a
briefing in Geneva.
Many of those involved in the protests said they were fed up
with unemployment, a lack of liberty and the huge wealth of a tiny elite under
Ben Ali.
Foreign Minister Kamel Morjane told France's Europe 1 radio
that Ben Ali might form a national unity government after what he called the
president's "clear and sharp correction".
Asked about forming a coalition government including
opposition leaders such as Najib Chebbi, he said: "I think that is
feasible and I think it would be entirely normal."
France, which criticised Ben Ali's handling of the protests
for the first time on Thursday, urged him to deliver on his promises, as did
the European Union.
Internet sites which had been blocked for weeks, including
YouTube and Dailymotion, started working again after the president's televised
speech.
"I have been deceived, they deceived me," Ben Ali
said in an emotional reference to senior officials. "I am not the sun
which shines over everything ... I understand the Tunisians, I understand their
demands."
There is no obvious candidate to succeed Ben Ali, who has
dominated political life in Tunisia and sidelined rivals since he seized power
in 1987, declaring independence leader Habib Bourguiba medically unfit to
remain president.
Chebbi, one of Ben Ali's most outspoken internal critics, is
seen by Western diplomats as the most credible opposition figure. (additional
reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, John Irish, Brian Love and Laure
Bretton in Paris; writing by Paul Taylor and Maria Golovnina)
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