TUNIS – A 14-year-old boy has been killed by a “stray bullet” in a violent protest in the Tunisian town where the uprisings around the Arab world were first unleashed, the country’s official news agency reported.
Demonstrators hurled Molotov cocktails at security forces, and police and soldiers responded with warning shots in the overnight violence, the TAP news agency reported.
Two other protesters were seriously wounded in the clashes in the poor inland town of Sidi Bouzid, where residents say little has changed since protests erupted there in December over unemployment, corruption and repression.
Those demonstrations spread around Tunisia, forcing the autocratic president to flee and inspiring anti-government protests in several Arab countries this year.
The momentum of the "Arab Spring" now appears to be stalling, however. Tunisia has seen a resurgence of protests in recent days as the interim government struggles to build a new democracy.
– (Reuters)