Protests hit the Capital and Coast

Last night the protest moved north to Tunis.  Da man has tried to reach his family, but no one picks up the phone.  I have tried to contact through the net, but doubt Ben Ali would allow for that communication to occur.  Today, protest have started in Sfax (a city on the central coast of Tunis).

I am extremely worried.  No U.S. media has picked this up.  I guess its just easier to talk about Haiti.

Sfax protest video (don't worry no gore)

Tunisian Interior Minister Sacked

The Tunisian president has sacked his interior minister after a deadly wave of violent unrest reached the capital, Tunis, for the first time.

Rafik Belhaj Kacem, who was responsible for the police force which has been widely criticised for its ruthless response to the protests, was dismissed on Wednesday.

Soldiers were earlier deployed in the centre of Tunis after violence flared in the capital for the first time overnight.

Armoured vehicles rumbled through Tunis and troops took up positions at major intersections and the
entrance to the Cite Ettadhamen quarter where rioters burnt vehicles and attacked government offices late on Tuesday.

It was the first rioting in the capital since protests over unemployment erupted in mid-December, turning violent in the west of the country at the weekend when security forces opened fire on demonstrators.

The government said 21 people were killed in three days of unrest in the western Kasserine region, and that security forces acted in self-defence, but labour unions and rights groups said more than 50 were killed.

Meanwhile sources told Al Jazeera that five people had been killed in fresh clashes between protesters and security forces in the south.

Read more here.