Authorities Struggle to Take Control in Tunisia
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: January 17, 2011
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TUNIS — Tunisian police clashed with a crowd of more than a thousand demonstrators in the center of the capital on Monday as the interim government struggled to regain control of the country after four-weeks of protests that forced the former autocrat President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali from power.
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Clouds of tear gas — this time the work of the interim government, not Mr. Ben Ali — once again filled the central Avenue Bourguiba, re-closing businesses and sending residents fleeing. It was unclear whether anyone was hurt.
The new round of clashes underscored the tortuous path ahead for Tunisia.
Demonstrators gathered Monday morning around the headquarters of Mr. Ben Ali’s ruling party to protest the formation of an interim government that includes members of the organization as ministers of the interior and of foreign affairs.
The protestors chanted for the ruling party to be driven out all together. But after more than fifty years of one-party rule in Tunisia, there are few people outside the ruling party with the experience and expertise to steer the government until elections are held.
Military tanks and police forces are still a heavy presence around the streets of Tunis, although cafes and businesses began to reopen Monday and life returned to the streets. The security forces at first allowed the demonstrations to build for a few hours. Then military forces fired shots into the air, followed by occasional blasts from a water cannon to disperse the crowd.
After the former government’s swift and ruthless attacks on any unauthorized public gathering, however, the crowd seemed to revel in the relatively gentle response. “A shower,” shrugged one man, in French, his suit and overcoat soaking wet. A man in red shoes danced in the puddles in front of the chanting crowd.
But at around 12:30 p.m., the growing crowd surged toward the headquarters of the Interior Ministry, and the police evidently decided to bring the demonstrations to an end. It was unclear whether the police forces acted alone or in concert with troops, who appeared to be at the other end of the crowd.
The makeup of a new unity government would be announced on Monday, Mohamed Ghannouchi, the prime minister, said late on Sunday.
Mr. Ghannouchi and the interim president, Fouad Mebazaa, both close allies of Mr. Ben Ali, brought the coalition together during negotiations on Sunday with the leaders of Tunisia’s recognized opposition parties, who were expected to receive lesser roles in the new cabinet. The outlawed Communist and Islamist parties were excluded from the talks.
Speculation has also swirled around Gen. Rachid Ammar, the country’s top military official, who is believed to have helped usher Mr. Ben Ali from the scene on Friday.
Protesters on Monday chanted about the power of the people and called for free and transparent elections.
There were also new signs on Monday that others in the Arab world may be seeking to emulate the Tunisian example. A young Egyptian set himself on fire outside the parliament in Cairo, imitating the Tunisian in the town of Sidi Bouzid whose self-immolation one month ago set off the wave of protests that ousted Mr. Ben Ali.
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