BURSTS OF gunfire rang out across Tunis last night as the security forces struggled to restore calm after the forced departure of the president.
Two days after Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali succumbed to weeks of unrest and fled to Saudi Arabia, an air of menace hangs over Tunisia’s capital. On Avenue Bourguiba, a tank took up position at the bare hoarding where Ben Ali’s portrait had stood until Friday. Plain-clothes police with truncheons rounded up looters, while local residents armed with clubs and stones erected roadblocks to ward off roaming gangs.
The morning had been tense but quiet. It took only an instant for the atmosphere to turn, when a volley of cacophonous gunshots echoed around the main thoroughfares. “Coups de feu! Coups de feu!” yelled the police, warning of gunfire as they hustled a crowd down a side street. Chaos ensued as crowds ran in every direction while automatic rounds reverberated about a block away. Helicopters passed overheard and the roads cleared. From a balcony, a local woman – Sondes Baccar – kindly gestured for us to shelter in her flat. Over biscuits, her husband Hamidi updated his Facebook page with news of the gun battle.
Local radio reports later suggested police had stopped a car filled with arms at a checkpoint, and a shoot-out ensued as the passengers fled. State television reported that two snipers had been killed in separate exchanges near the central bank. Suspicion has fallen on militias loyal to Mr Ben Ali over the weekend’s violence.
“This is our real moment of independence, not 1956,” shopkeeper Chokri Ben Salah (39) remarked. But whatever elation Tunisians feel at the removal of their authoritarian leader is tempered by the uncertainty that comes in his wake. Tunisia remains in a state of emergency.
Almost all shops remain closed and piles of rubbish lie uncollected on every corner. Curfew fell at 5pm and the streets emptied. The gunfire had the night to itself – gunfire and the call to prayer.