Tunisia crisis | Teargas fired to break up new street protests

Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi brought opposition leaders into a coalition on yesterday evening after the president fled to Saudi Arabia following weeks of violent street protests. But key 'old guard' figures kept their jobs, angering many.

Several hundred opposition party supporters and trade unionists protested peacefully in central Tunis before their demonstration was broken up by police.

Ghannouchi defended his government, saying some ministers had been kept on because they were needed in the run-up to elections, expected in the next two months.

"We have tried to put together a mix that takes into account the different forces in the country to create the conditions to be able to start reforms," Ghannouchi told Europe 1 radio.

Ghannouchi rejected suggestions that the Ben Ali "dictatorship" would continue under a new guise.

"That is completely unfair. Today there is an era of liberty which is showing itself on the television, on the street," he said.

The weeks of protests against poverty and unemployment in Tunisia which forced Ben Ali from office prompted fears across the Arab world that similarly repressive governments might also face popular unrest.

In Tunis this morning, people in several parts of the city reported hearing sporadic gunfire overnight but there was significantly less gunfire than on previous nights.

Interior Minister Ahmed Friaa told state television yesterday evening that at least 78 people had been killed in the unrest, and the cost so far in damage and lost business was €1.6 billion.

Ghannouchi promised to release all political prisoners and to investigate those suspected of corruption, and those behind the killing of demonstrators would face justice.

"All those who are behind this massacre, this carnage, will be accountable to the justice system."