Associated Press
A man carries goods from the house of Belhassen Trabelsi, the brother of the former President's wife, Leila Ben Ali, in Sokra, 16 kms (10 miles) from Tunis, Saturday, Jan. 15, 2011. The Tunisian capital's main train station has been burned to the ground, and many shops have been sacked and looted in violence that came after the North African nation's president fled the country.
Associated Press
A supermarket is on fire after it was sacked and looted in Bizerte, Tunisia, Saturday, Jan. 15, 2011.
Associated Press
A tank is seen next to the portrait of former Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, on a street in Tunis, Saturday, Jan. 15, 2011. Violent anti-government protests drove Ben Ali from power Friday after 23 years of iron-fisted rule, as anger over soaring unemployment and corruption spilled into the streets.
Associated Press
Demonstrators shout slogans against President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunis, Friday, Jan. 14, 2011.
Associated Press
In this image made from Channel 7 Tunisia TV Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali is seen making a speech in Tunis, on Thursday Jan. 13 2011.
Associated Press
Demonstrators throws stones at police during clashes in Tunis, Friday, Jan. 14, 2011.
Associated Press
Demonstrators runs as police throw teargas during a demonstration in Tunis, Friday, Jan. 14, 2011.
TUNIS, Tunisia — Tunisia sped toward a new future after its iron-fisted leader fled, with an interim president sworn ordering the country's first multiparty government to be formed.
But snipers boldly attacked police beside the Interior Ministry, violence hit tony neighborhoods and prisons alike and gunfire crackled steadily in the capital Saturday, heaping doubt on hopes for a smooth transition to a new era.
The omnipresent posters of ex-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali were coming down, a vivid signal to citizens that Tunisia is moving on after 23 years of autocratic rule. Even the main state TV station changed its name.
For Tunisians who protested for four weeks — with police shooting
dozens to death — the announcement that a "government of national unity"
would be formed opens the possibility of a leap toward democracy in
this Muslim country in North Africa whose modernity clashed with Ben
Ali's repressive rule.