TUNIS, Dec 24 (Reuters) - One civilian was killed and several others were injured when Tunisian police opened fire in fresh clashes on Friday, official and trade union sources said.
An interior ministry spokesperson said police in the city of Bouziane had been forced to "shoot in self-defence" after shots into the air failed to disperse scores of protesters.
Reasons for the latest violence were not immediately clear but clashes broke out a week ago in the town of Sidi Bouzid after a man committed suicide in a protest about unemployment. The protests later spread to several neighbouring cities.
In Friday's unrest, rioters barricaded a police station and used molotov cocktails to torch the building and some police cars, the spokesperson said.
One of the protestors was killed and two others wounded in the shooting, the spokesperson added, without saying what caused the clashes.
Riots are extremely rare for Tunisia, which has been run for 23 years by President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and works closely with Western governments to combat al Qaeda militants. (Reporting by Tarek Amara, Editing by David Stamp)
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