150 wounded in Tunisia clashes with police

More than 150 people were wounded on Wednesday in a second day of clashes between Tunisian security forces and thousands of protesters in a poor southwestern town, a hospital source told AFP. A doctor at the hospital in Siliana said more than 150 people were being treated for different types of injury, with four of them transferred to Tunis. The emergency services in Siliana, some 120 kilometres (75 miles) south of Tunis, were visibly overwhelmed, as relatives of the victims gathered and vented their anger, according to an AFP reporter at the scene. "We will burn the town!" shouted a man whose son was among those injured. Several armoured vehicles belonging to the national guard were deployed, while protesters erected barricades in the streets. By early afternoon the clashes were ongoing, between stone-throwing protesters and police, with thick clouds of tear gas visible in the town. The interior ministry declined to comment on the unrest. But the prime minister's office said it was concerned about "the protests in public places in the Siliana prefecture," in its first reaction to the unrest. It also said it regretted "the use of violence against the security forces, aggression at the headquarters of sovereignty, and attempts to damage public property." Several thousand protesters had gathered at 0900 GMT in front of the prefecture in Siliana demanding the departure of the regional governor, trade union official Nejib Sebti told AFP earlier. The security forces then began firing warning shots and tear gas, before using a "strange" type of shot to disperse the crowd, he said. Similar clashes took place on Tuesday, with the police then using rubber bullets to scatter the protesters. "The people of Siliana most affected by poverty will never go down on their knees," Sebti said, warning that they were "ready to die for their rights." The protesters are demanding the liberation of 14 people detained during violent unrest in April 2011 and funds to boost economic development in the impoverished region, as well as the governor's resignation. Investment in the poor farming 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, including protests that often turn violent, amid rising discontent over the Islamist-led government's failure to improve living standards.