News In Brief
| Tunis
Tunisia calls out Army to halt bread-price riots
Security forces fired in the air to disperse groups of stone-throwing demonstrators in central Tunis Thursday, witnesses said, as riots flared anew over the doubling of the price of bread. The government has vowed not to roll back the increases.
More than 50 people have been killed and hundreds injured in the riots, according to government officials. Security forces, operating under a state of emergency and a dusk-to-dawn curfew, have been authorized to shoot anyone who disobeys orders or attempts to escape when challenged.
Tunisian and diplomatic analysts suggested that extremists - including Islamic fundamentalists, Marxists, and supporters of Libya's Muammar Qaddafi - might have had a hand in the riots.
