Protests Reignite Tensions in Western Tunisia

Protesters took to the streets in western Tunisia on Saturday, reigniting tensions in the impoverished town of Kasserine, an Agence France Presse correspondent said.

Dozens of residents who had occupied the governor's office on Thursday staged a sit-in at the Tunisian labor union's premises in the town of Kasserine, with 23 of them claiming to be on hunger strike.

The protesters demanded work, justice and compensation for those injured and the families of those killed during the Tunisian uprising in January last year which ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

They also called for the governor, a member of the ruling Islamist Ennahda party recently appointed to his position, to step down.

The governor was recently accused of refusing to take on the task of providing compensation for revolution victims and their families. The government said on Saturday that an official committee had been specifically charged with this task.

Compensation for revolution casualties, which a provisional toll estimates at about 300 dead and 2,000 wounded, has been severely delayed.

The impoverished town of Kasserine was a key site of the 2011 uprising, during which 21 of its inhabitants were killed. The town saw several sit-ins at union offices in August.