a friend of a friend who works in my company was shot today in tunis. he was walking home from work and got caught up in a protest. out of nowhere police started throwing tear gas bombs and shooting into the crowd and he got hit in the thigh.
it didn't hit a bone or artery so he will probably be fine. god knows how many other people were hurt.
protesters took over the resort city of hammamet and the protests in other cities are getting out of control.
my city is the home of president ben ali and is relatively peaceful (only a few people have died here in the last week), however there is anger here too and i dont know how long the peace will last.
most disturbingly there are rumors that in the west of the country the army (which has been brought in to help repress the protests) has begun getting in gun battles with policemen.
the army is mainly conscripted and is seen as less necessarily loyal to the regime then the police are. i started this blog assuming that i was going to stay here, but even the hint of violence between the two ends of the security apparatus makes me think it might be time get an airline ticket.
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