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| Africa North |
| Tunisia sets three-day mourning for protest victims |
| 2011-01-22 |
| TUNIS - Tunisia observes three days of national mourning from Friday for the dozens of people killed during protests before and after the ouster of former president Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali, state television said. In a statement released after a cabinet meeting on Thursday, the government said schools and universities, closed since last week, would reopen on Monday. Mohamed Aloulou, minister for youth and sport, told reporters after the cabinet meeting that sporting events, also on hold since last week, would resume “very soon”. At least 78 people have been killed since the start of Tunisia’s uprising and the unrest has cost 3 billion dinars ($2.1 billion) in damages and lost business, Interior Minister Ahmed Friaa told state TV this week. The new government, faced with violent street protests for retaining members of the deposed president’s cabinet, offered a blanket amnesty to all political groups. The pledge was issued at the ruling coalition’s first cabinet meeting on Thursday. Protesters have complained that despite a promised amnesty, only a few hundred of those imprisoned for political reasons during Ben Ali’s 23-year rule had been released. “We are in agreement for a general amnesty,” said Higher Education Minister Ahmed Ibrahim, an opposition party leader who joined the coalition after Ben Ali’s removal. The announcement followed another day of protests, with police firing shots into the air to try to disperse hundreds of demonstrators demanding that ministers associated with the rule of Ben Ali leave the government. The protesters, who gathered outside the Tunis headquarters of the RCD, Tunisia’s ruling party for several decades, refused to move back when police fired shots from behind a metal fence. Protests also took place in other towns. |
| Posted by:Steve White |