Tunisia's president calls early elections amid rioting

Tunisia's president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali is dismissing the government and calling early legislative elections in six months as rioting continues in the capital, the Tunisian state news agency has said.

Thirteen people have died in new unrest in Tunisia, medical officials said today.

The deaths came late on Thursday when the president went on television to announce concessions designed to ease weeks of protests.

There was no official confirmation of any new deaths. The government has not raised the official death toll of 23 for several days.

Surgeon Fares Belhassen told the Associated Press he had counted 10 dead and 50 wounded at Tunis’ Charles Nicolle hospital.

An employee at Khereddine Hospital, who asked not to be named, said three more people were shot dead and six others injured by police in clashes in the northern suburb of Kram.

Police fired tear gas on protesters in Tunis after they climbed on top the roof of the Interior Ministry, a symbol of the iron-fisted government.

Meanwhile Tunisia’s ambassador to the UN cultural and educational agency has resigned.

Mezri Haddad, ambassador to Paris-based Unesco, told France’s BFM television: “I am resigning today” because he did not want to contribute to something that “is the opposite of my convictions and my conscience”.