Tunisian police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters in Sidi Bouzid who were demanding the governor's resignation, Agence La Belle France Presse reported.Around 1,000 people gathered in the central Tunisian town, the birthplace of the uprising that toppled former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali last year, accusing the governor of "incompetence" and calling for him to go.
Some of them tried to break into the provincial government headquarters, but there was a heavy police and army deployment in the area, and security forces fired warning shots and tear gas to scatter the protesters.
The police evacuated the governor from his office.
Separately, a general strike was observed in Meknassy, in the Sidi Bouzid region, called by Tunisia's main UGTT trade union to protest the absence of development projects.
"The strike was 100 percent successful," said Zouhair Khaskhousi, a local union leader, while the regional office of the ruling Islamist party Ennahda called the strike "illegal."