Four killed in Tunisia youth riots

Police opened fire and killed four people in Tunisia as youths angry about unemployment defied a curfew aimed at calming more than three weeks of violent protests, opposition officials have claimed.

Rioters were hurling stones at government buildings and police were firing tear gas in the capital Tunis. Officers were deployed on key thoroughfares in the city, which until this week had been spared the violent unrest erupting in provincial towns.

Police have repeatedly shot at protesters in more than three weeks of violence which has rocked the country.

The official death toll is at least 23 dead but opposition figures and witnesses said it was more than 50, including the deaths overnight near Tunis and in the northern region of Bizerte. A French and a Swiss citizen were among those killed, the two European governments have confirmed.

The unprecedented violence has revealed deep anger against autocratic President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s government. Mr Ben Ali has gone on national TV in an appeal for calm and to pledge job creation, but his efforts have not done much to stop the unrest.

Mourad Yacoubi, a member of the PDP party, said two people were shot dead and another was severely injured after being hit by gunfire in a housing project outside Tunis. He also said a young man was killed in the town of Menzel-Bourguiba in Bizerte, with a fourth person shot and killed in the nearby town of Sekma.

The Swiss Foreign Ministry said a woman with dual Swiss-Tunisian citizenship died in northern Tunisia. Swiss radio reported the woman was killed by a stray bullet while watching a protest a day earlier.

Another victim was a professor of computer science from France, at the University of Technology at Compiegne. University spokeswoman Nadine Luft said Hatem Bettahar had taught there for a decade and had travelled to Tunisia to see his mother.

Slah Nebti, a Tunisian teacher, said Mr Bettahar was shot by police in a protest in the central city of Douz. He filmed a video of the shooting’s aftermath and posted it to Facebook: It showed Mr Bettahar lying in a pool of blood and the crowd shouting “God is Great!” in Arabic. The French Foreign Ministry said it was looking into the circumstances of Mr Bettahar’s death.

Mr Ben Ali, 74, has maintained an iron grip on Tunisia since grabbing power 23 years ago. Tourism is the mainstay of the North African country’s economy but unemployment stands at 14%, and is higher for educated youths.