Tunisia Police Use Rubber Bullets on Sidi Bouzid Demo

Tunisian police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters in Sidi Bouzid who were demanding the governor's resignation, Agence France Presse reported.

Around 1,000 people gathered in the central Tunisian town, the birthplace of the uprising that toppled former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali last year, accusing the governor of "incompetence" and calling for him to go.

Some of them tried to break into the provincial government headquarters, but there was a heavy police and army deployment in the area, and security forces fired warning shots and tear gas to scatter the protesters.

The police evacuated the governor from his office.

Separately, a general strike was observed in Meknassy, in the Sidi Bouzid region, called by Tunisia's main UGTT trade union to protest the absence of development projects.

"The strike was 100 percent successful," said Zouhair Khaskhousi, a local union leader, while the regional office of the ruling Islamist party Ennahda called the strike "illegal."

The Sidi Bouzid region, which is home to around 12,000 jobless graduates, often sees protesters taking to the streets to condemn the Islamist-led government for ignoring their grievances and failing to create jobs.

These have multiplied in recent weeks, amid rising discontent over poor living conditions, regular water cuts and delayed salary payments.

In the past week, teachers have taken industrial action and MPs from the region have started hunger strikes to pressure the authorities into freeing protesters arrested in recent demonstrations near Sidi Bouzid.