Free Republic

Tunisia's Prime Minister Habib Essid held an emergency cabinet meeting Saturday, after authorities declared a nighttime curfew nationwide following the worst outbreak of social unrest since the 2011 revolution. Five years after the ouster of longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, street demonstrations against unemployment and poverty have again shaken the North African nation. Anger erupted over the death on January 16 of Ridha Yahyaoui, a 28-year-old unemployed man who was electrocuted when he climbed a power pole while protesting in the central town of Kasserine. The unrest spread around the country, including to Tunis where shops were burnt...

At least 19 people have been killed in Tunisia after two gunmen stormed the Bardo national museum – one of the country’s leading tourist attractions in the capital, Tunis – sparking a three-hour hostage siege. Tunisia’s prime minister, Habib Essid, said on Wednesday afternoon that 17 of the dead were foreigners – from Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland – calling the attack a cowardly assault targeting the economy. Three hours after the attack started at about midday local time (11am GMT), an interior ministry spokesman said two gunmen had been killed, as well as one security officer, and that all...