French to English translation
15 01 2011 dernières nouvelles/latest news
http://info.france2.fr/monde/tunis-quadrillee-par-la-police-et-l-armee-66696834.htmlLooting and violence in Tunis and in the provinces
FTV with by AFP and Reuters
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Tunis, 14 January 2011, after the speech of Tunisian President Ben Ali, calling for new elections.
AFP / FETHI BELAID
The police and army have isolated the heart of Tunis, closing access to the Avenue Bourguiba in the center
This device has been decided under state of emergency decreed Friday that prohibited any gathering, after a night of destruction and looting in some suburbs of Tunis and in the provinces.
Dozens of inmates (42, according to a physician) were killed Saturday during a mass breakout from the prison of Mahdia Monastir (east).
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The information was confirmed by several witnesses. "They tried to escape and the police opened fire on them. There are now dozens of dead, and everyone escaped," said one resident of Mahdia, Imed, who lives at 200 meters the prison. Mahdia prison, 140 km south of Tunis, housed 1,200 inmates, he said.
According to the medical chief of forensic medicine at the hospital Fatouma Bourguiba Monastir, the fire started when an inmate set fire to a mattress in a dormitory housing some 90 inmates in an attempt to escape. It turned to panic because of shots fired near the prison. This is the deadliest incident since the beginning, there is one month of riots that led to the escape Friday from the former head of state Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Looting
At the same time, the looting continues. The Giant hypermarket, just outside north of Tunis, was looted.
Dozens of people left the mall carrying whatever they fell to hand, in the absence of any representative of law enforcement, said the photographer. "A position close to the National Guard has been deserted," he said. The hypermarket was partially burned Friday.
Some looters smashed shop windows on Saturday spared by the flames and empty trucks were scattered up to a nearby motorway.Protesters attacked and looted shops these days of French retailers Carrefour and Casino, which are close associates of power in Tunisia.
Witnesses said the robbers, usually masked, are bands of militiamen from the ruling party, the common law prisoners escaped from detention centers or elements of the police.Several neighborhoods in the suburbs of Tunis have been through a night of anguish and calls were made to the army, which protects part of the state of emergency public buildings, to intervene urgently cons these bands.
According to a French diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, police and supporters of former Tunisian president at large are involved in attacks and abuses against the population in Tunis. "I saw gang smashed doors to bring out people and beating them in the street. These gangs are made up of plainclothes and uniformed and unidentified individuals armed with metal chains, iron bars and clubs, "said the diplomat who has personally witnessed a scene of violence against civilians in downtown Tunis on Saturday before dawn. "One officer told me that they were supporters of Ali Ben convinced his return," added the diplomat who said he witnessed the scenes on the streets Kamal Attaturk, a few dozen meters from the Avenue Bourguiba in downtown Tunis.
Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi, interviewed later by Al-Jazeera in Qatar on the identity of the vandals who have also occurred in several towns, said that "everything is possible" about the identity of the bands. He said the night of Friday to Saturday on the public channel Tunis 7 he had the "absolute priority" restoring public order.
Metal barriers were erected through the streets leading to the Avenue Bourguiba, preventing the passage of the few cars and pedestrians. Before the introduction of this device, few vehicles and pedestrians were visible, and only a few passengers left their hotels, dragging their luggage.
Confusion reigned at the time of the lifting of the curfew at 6am local time, according the official news agency, 7h, according to state television.
State of emergency throughout the country
The Tunisian government has declared Friday a state of emergency throughout the country and a curfew was imposed from 17h to 7h with the ban on gatherings of more than 3 people on the street and allowing the army and police to shoot any "suspect" refusing to obey orders.
After the departure from power of President Ben Ali, the curfew was maintained.
However, the airspace was reopened on Saturday as all airports in the country.
Violent clashes Friday in Tunis
Violent clashes broke out Friday in Tunis between riot police and demonstrators from demanding the departure of Ben Ali. He finally fled and that his Prime Minister, Mohammed Ghannouchi, who assumed the presidency until Saturday Acting before being replaced by the president of the Tunisian Parliament, Fouad Mebazaa, under the Basic Law Tunisia.
Shots had sounded earlier in Tunis before the Interior Ministry where the police used tear gas to disperse several thousand protesters who demanded the immediate resignation of the Head of State.
Thirteen civilians were killed in Thursday night to Friday
Thirteen civilians were killed by gunfire from security forces Thursday night in Tunis and its suburbs after the Speech from the Tunisian president, said on Friday, medical sources told AFP.
"The Interior Ministry is a ministry of terror," "tribute to the blood of martyrs" or "no, with Trabelsi (note: in-laws the president) who looted the country," the demonstrators chanted Friday Tunis. The police did not intervene against them. She has blocked a moment in the middle of the Avenue Bourguiba, before letting them go before the Department is protected by a large police cordon.Spotters filmed walking from the roof. Lawyers in black robes were among the demonstrators.
A Sidi Bouzid (southwest) from which party a month ago, the protest movement, some 1,500 people gathered at the cry of "Ben Ali outside," said an AFP correspondent. "Ben Ali outside," the protesters also chanted in Kairouan (center) and Gafsa (south-west).
Destruction and looting in Hammamet
The Tunisian resort of Hammamet, popular with European tourists, was delivered to the robbers late Thursday afternoon, according to AFP journalists arrived in this city located 60 km south of Tunis. On a Facebook page, a video entitled "A Portrait of Ben Ali in Hammamet removed to be burned" shows demonstrators attacking a portrait of Tunisian President.
66 people killed, according to FIDH
The president of the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), Belhassen, said Thursday hold a list of names of 66 people killed since the troubles began in Tunisia in mid-December, including 8 in the night in the suburb of Tunis, denouncing "a massacre continues." "The top priority today and stop this massacre," she added.
Internet only refuge of freedom of expression
Facing the media muzzled, thousands of young Tunisians speak on the Internet. According to Liberation, "by prohibiting news sites and video sharing", the "regime in spite of himself migrated Tunisians on Facebook, where nearly 2 million Tunisians (about 11 million) would have a personal page. Mobilization also Twitter with the keyword # Sidi Bouzid. And among the reference sites, the "independent group blog nawaat.org remains well advanced", also notes Liberation.
See also:
>> On the site nawaat.org: all about Sidi Bouzid videos - images-info
>> Ben Ali on the run, the Prime Minister to the Acting
>> Tourist: Paris urges caution
>> Tunisia: Internet at the heart of the dispute
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