Tunisia said it freed the last political prisoners of its fallen strongman on Wednesday as the new caretaker leadership faced more calls for a fuller purge of the old guard from the fledgling national unity coalition. Najib Chebbi, whose move this week from marginalised opposition leader to a ministerial appointment in the new cabinet is emblematic of the new Tunisia, told Reuters: "All the political prisioners have been released today."
-- Fewer protesters in streets
-- Switzerland freezes Ben Ali's assets
They included members of the banned Islamist movement Ennahda. But figures were not available of how many people had been released. Secrecy under veteran former president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who fled to Saudi Arabia, meant that the number of those detained for political reasons was never made public.
While authoritarian Arab rulers have long cited the threat of radical Islam to justify repressive rule to their Western allies, Tunisia's Islamist opposition has been less visible than those in poorer and less secular states of the region. Hundreds of protesters demonstrated in the Tunisian capital on Wednesday to demand the dismissal of former Ben Ali loyalists from the new government headed by Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi, who was himself premier under the old leadership.
He is due to hold a first cabinet meeting on Thursday. Four opposition figures quit the government within a day of being appointed, saying protesters were disappointed at how many old faces were kept on. They feared, they said, that the people were being denied the fruits of their "Jasmine Revolution". The weeks of protests over poverty and unemployment, which cost about 100 lives, prompted speculation across the Arab world that other repressive governments might also face unrest.
About 500 people protested in Bourguiba Avenue in the centre of Tunis on Wednesday, fewer than in recent days. "This will continue every day until we get rid of the ruling party," said Faydi Borni, a teacher. Around the protest, life continued as normal. Trams were passing through the demonstration. Protesters clapped a woman tram driver who smiled at them as she edged into the crowd.
The streets of Tunis were quiet overnight, with no shooting or looting. In a sign security was improving, state television said that the nightly curfew was shortened by three hours. Moncef Marzouki, the leader of a small opposition party who returned to Tunisia from exile in France this week, visited the grave of Mohamed Bouazizi, who set fire to himself in an act of protest and started the wave of unrest which toppled Ben Ali.