Protesters from Tunisia's poor rural heartlands demonstrated in the capital this morning to demand that the revolution they started should now sweep the remnants of the fallen president's old guard from power.
A week after prime minister Mohamed Ghannouchi took the reins of an interim coalition following the overthrow of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, he and other former loyalists of the feared ruling party face mounting pressure to step down.
For days, protesters have gathered at the premier's office in Tunis, limited in numbers but tolerated by a police force wary of its own fate after Mr Ben Ali and enjoying wider support among a population that is unused to free political expression.
Today, amid a weekend calm, hundreds of people who had been driven to the capital in a "caravan of freedom" surrounded Mr Ghannouchi's building in central Tunis.
Many were from Sidi Bouzid, the bleak central city where the revolution was sparked a month ago by one young man's suicide.
Demonstrators said they would not let the legacy of Mohamed Bouazizi, who set himself alight in protest at poverty and oppression, end with Mr Ben Ali's flight to Saudi Arabia and the establishment of a government dominated by his lieutenants.
"The people want this government to fall," the chanted.
Former members of Mr Ben Ali's RCD ruling party retain key ministries, notably interior, defence and foreign affairs. Politicians from small opposition parties previously tolerated under Mr Ben Ali were allowed to join the government in less vital posts, such as higher education and regional development.
Five such appointees quit the cabinet within a day of Mr Ghannouchi forming it.
Tunisians' revolt has electrified millions across the Arab world who suffer similarly from high unemployment, rising prices and repressive rule, often by governments back by western powers as a bulwark against radical Islam.
Arab leaders have responded to such pressures by both concessions and police measures. In Yemen, the poorest Arab state, hundreds of students demonstrated on Sunday after the arrest of a woman who had led previous protests demanding a Tunisian-style uprising.
Reuters