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Tunisian police
fired shots into the air on Thursday to try to disperse hundreds of
protesters demanding that ministers associated with the rule of ousted
president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, leave the government.

The protesters, who
gathered outside the Tunis headquarters of the RCD, Tunisia’s ruling
party for several decades, refused to move back when police fired shots
from behind a metal fence.

For the first time
since the fall of Ben Ali last week, there were also protests in other
towns across Tunisia. The protesters on Mohamed V Avenue near the
centre of Tunis, chanted: “After Ben Ali and his wife, we want to bring
down his thieves!” They also burned the logo of the party and carried
banners saying: ‘Government out!’

One of the
protesters, who gave his name as Aymen, said: “We are here, we are not
going to move until the RCD falls. We will come every hour and every
day.”

At the RCD
headquarters, workmen were removing the large plaque from the outside
of the building bearing the party’s name, a Reuters reporter said.

A moustachioed
military officer, whose unit was guarding the building, told the crowd:
“Translate this as you wish: the RCD is going away.”

The protesters
responded with rapturous applause and began embracing members of the
security forces. It was not clear if the officer had meant the RCD was
simply leaving the headquarters building or that it was relinquishing
power.

Ben Ali fled to
Saudi Arabia on Friday after weeks of violent unrest spurred by anger
over poverty, unemployment and repression. The popular revolt was seen
as sending shockwaves through autocratic governments across the Arab
world.

The central
committee of Ben Ali’s RCD power base has been dissolved, state
television reported. It said the decision was taken as many committee
members, who were also government ministers, had quit the party under
opposition pressure. The party itself will continue to operate, the
report said.

Minister quit party

The ministers in
the interim government resigned from the RCD party in a bid to restore
credibility after four opposition ministers quit the cabinet, saying
ministers belonging to the RCD party must go.

In a new blow to the government, a junior minister stepped down on Thursday, the official news agency said.

“I am stepping down
for the higher interests of the country in this delicate situation to
try to bring the country out of crisis and ensure a democratic
transition,” Zouheir M’Dhaffar, minister of state in the Prime
Minister’s office, was quoted as saying by the official TAP news agency.

The prime minister
and caretaker president left the RCD party this week, but protesters in
Tunis and other cities kept up pressure on Thursday for a government
free of ties with Ben Ali and the old guard.

Between 3,000 and
4,000 people gathered in the town of Gafsa, 350 km (220 miles) south of
Tunis, to protest the presence in the government of ministers who
worked for Ben Ali, union activist Hedi Radaoui told Reuters.

State television
said there was also an anti-government protest in the town of Kef,
about 180 km southwest of Tunis. There were also protests in Sfax.
Shooting and looting on the streets have declined in recent days, but a
resident in the Mouroudj neighbourhood, 5 km from Tunis city centre,
said police and military intervened on Wednesday night after gunmen
began shooting. Helicopters flew overhead and security forces used
loud-hailers to tell people to stay indoors, the resident said.

With the police
lacking public credibility after its role in cracking down on unrest
before Ben Ali’s departure, the interim government is heavily dependent
on the army to maintain order.

The military has, in public at least, stayed out of politics but some analysts say it wields influence behind the scenes.

At the Borj Lamary
Prison, just outside Tunis, a bus emerged carrying inmates released
under a government order to free all political prisoners. Families of
the released prisoners hugged them when the bus stopped and let them
out nearby.

Among those freed
was Sameer Hagouba, who said he had been studying at the Islamic Al
Azhar University in Egypt when he was deported on terrorism-related
charges and imprisoned in his native Tunisia.

“Does this look like the face of terrorism?” asked Hagouba, a young man with a light and carefully trimmed beard.

“We call now for all political prisoners to be released…”

In further moves to
seize the assets of the former ruling family, a bank owned by Ben Ali’s
son-in-law was placed under the control of the central bank, state TV
said.

Tunisia’s central
bank on Thursday moved to reassure international creditors, saying it
held enough foreign currency reserves to meet financial and commercial
obligations.

It said it held 12.6 billion dinars in foreign reserves, enough to cover 143 days of import needs.