Anger over a crackdown on protesters in Tunisia grew Tuesday as a union official said 50 were killed in three days of unrest while artists and hospital staff joined demonstrations. Locals reported looting in the town of Kasserine overnight and said demonstrators were fired upon from rooftops. Meanwhile schools and universities across the country were shut as the government tried to quell weeks of protests centred on unemployment.
A union official told AFP that at least 50 people were killed over three days in Kasserine, one of three remote, farming areas with high rates of youth unemployment that have seen the worst of the violence. "The number killed has passed 50," said Sadok Mahmoudi from the regional branch of the Tunisian General Union of Labour (UGTT), citing tolls issued by medical staff in the regional hospital.
The Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) said at least 35 people were killed in the weekend unrest. The authorities have admitted that 14 people were killed but insisted that security forces acted in self-defence. Tunisia's unemployment rate is officially 14 percent, but the percentage of graduates without work is about double that.