TUNIS — Tunisia's state news agency says police have pulled out of the restive central town of Siliana after the arrival of the army, following clashes with protesters left more than 150 people injured. The Tunisian army took up positions in the town Thursday and there have been no new reports of violence. A strike over the lack of jobs and investment in this impoverished region turned violent Tuesday and Wednesday with clashes between stone-throwing protesters and police using shotguns and tear gas. Since overthrowing its dictator in January 2011, Tunisia's economy has suffered, especially in the comparatively more impoverished interior where the uprising began. A statement Thursday by the moderate Islamist Ennahda Party that dominates the government expressed sympathy for people's demands but condemned the violence. Protesters gathered at the headquarters of Tunisia's UGTT trade union, which had called a general strike, before taking to the streets to demand that the regional governor step down, as well as funds to boost development and the release of demonstrators arrested in April last year. Nejib Sebti, UGTT leader said he hoped violence would be avoided. “There will be no violence because the police have withdrawn, but the governor (Ahmed Ezzine Mahjoubi) must go for the strike to end,” he said. Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali insisted in a brief television appearance Wednesday evening that “this governor is not quitting.” There were no police on the town's streets, but stones, burnt tires and the trunks of fallen trees littered the streets in signs of Wednesday's violence. Medics at the hospital in Siliana said 265 people had been treated for bruises, fractures and cuts, some of them having been hit by birdshot. Nineteen people were partially or totally blinded, the hospital said. Protesters were demanding funds to boost growth — a similar economic grievance to those that fueled the Arab Spring uprising which toppled strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011. Investment in the Siliana region fell by 44.5 percent from January to October, compared with the same period last year. Much of Tunisia's interior suffers from a chronic lack of development, and has seen growing social unrest in the face of rising discontent over the Islamist-led government's failure to improve living standards. — Agencies
