Tunisia calm after government reshuffle

TUNIS — Calm returned to Tunisia's capital on Saturday a day after a new transition cabinet was sworn in and interim Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi vowed a transition to democracy and an economic revival.

After violent clashes with police Friday, only a few youths were out protesting against the "brutality" of police treatment after soldiers sealed off the city's Medina market area where much of the violence took place.

Still there was no palpable tension on the streets nearby, two weeks after nationwide demonstrations ousted strongman president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power. The country has since witnessed ongoing protests to eradicate every vestige of his regime.

The main Habib Bourguiba Avenue, hub of many of the rallies, also appeared largely back to normal apart from small groups of demonstrators.

In northwestern Tunisia, two policemen and a soldier were hurt in clashes with demonstrators who set fire to a local police headquarters late Friday, the TAP news agency reported Saturday.

Security forces later succeeded in restoring calm, TAP said.

For its part, Human Rights Watch on Saturday demanded the interim government "urgently" investigate killings of protesters by security forces earlier this month by the old regime.

"The units and commanders responsible for these apparently unlawful killings should be identified and held accountable," Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East and North Africa director for the New York-based watchdog, told reporters in Tunis.

The group said it had found evidence of at least 21 people killed with live ammunition earlier this month in the cities of Kasserine and Tala.

Tunisia's caretaker government said earlier that 78 people were killed in total, while the United Nations said at least 100 people had lost their lives.