By Tarek Amara
TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali fired his interior minister on Wednesday after a deadly wave of violent unrest, the biggest in decades, reached the capital for the first time.
Ben Ali -- who just days ago accused the rioters of committing acts of terrorism -- made a dramatic change of direction by ordering that all those arrested in weeks of clashes with police should be released.
People taking part in the unrest say they are angry about unemployment, corruption and what they say is a repressive government. Officials say the protests have been hijacked by a minority of violent extremists who want to undermine Tunisia.
The violence has claimed the lives of 23 people, according to an official count, though some international human rights groups said the figure is higher.
Soldiers were deployed in the centre of Tunis on Wednesday after the violence flared in the capital for the first time overnight. Witnesses said thousands of people gathered in a provincial town to demand Ben Ali leave office.
"The president has decided to appoint Ahmed Friaa as interior minister," Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi told journalists at a news conference.
"He has announced the creation of a committee of investigation into corruption and to assess the mistakes of certain officials," he said. "The president has decided to free all those arrested in the riots."
The protests, now entering their fourth week, are being watched closely in other countries in the Arab world with the potential for social unrest.
In the strongest U.S. statement on the violence to date, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on Tuesday Washington was "deeply concerned by reports of the use of excessive force by the government of Tunisia."
On the main avenue in Tunis, two military vehicles were parked opposite the French embassy, and two soldiers with weapons were patrolling in the street, a Reuters reporter said.
A short distance from downtown Tunis, two Humvee vehicles were parked at the entrance to the state television headquarters and two soldiers wearing helmets and flak jackets were patrolling with automatic weapons.
Late on Tuesday, police fired into the air to disperse a crowd ransacking buildings in a Tunis suburb. There were no reports of any casualties from those clashes.
Officials said the civilian deaths -- almost all of them in rioting in provincial towns at the weekend -- came about when police fired on rioters in legitimate self-defence.
Two witnesses said on Wednesday that several thousand people had come out into the streets in Gassrine, about 200 km from Tunis to protest against the government and the crackdown on the protests.
People were chanting: "Go away Ben Ali," one witness, Mohsen Nasri, told Reuters by telephone.
"There are about 3,000 people here protesting," said a second witness. "There are no police, they have fled to their barracks. The military are guarding buildings but they have not touched anyone."
After the weekend violence, the army was deployed in the most restive towns, schools and universities were shut indefinitely and police with loudhailers ordered people in at least one town not to gather in the streets.
The main focus of the protests has been bread-and-butter issues but some of those taking part have criticised Ben Ali, especially on social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
Police in the Swiss capital Berne said several fire bombs were thrown at the Tunisian embassy there but they failed to ignite and caused minimal damage.
(Editing by Giles Elgood)
