Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring protest movement and the only democracy to rise from those turbulent demonstrations, has unemployment around 15 percent.
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The unrest has quickly spread to other towns in the north and south of the country and shows no signs of weakening – protesters have stormed police stations and local government offices and killed one policeman.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who was also present at Friday’s discussions, will visit Tunisia by the end of the year to jointly chair the first meeting of a high-level Franco-Tunisian committee.
President Beji Caid Essebsi on an official trip to Australia said he condoned the protests which he argues are in line with the constitution but regretted media’s machinery trying to over blow them.
“It’s been seven years of no work for me”, one protester, Samir, 30, told Reuters.
‘Are we not Tunisians too?
Mr Essebsi said on Wednesday that more than 6,000 jobs would be given to people from the town of Kasserine. “We need people to be patient”.
The curfew from 8pm until 5am was imposed because the attacks on public and private property “represent a danger to the country and its citizens”, the Interior Ministry said. Weekend sports events were canceled.
Solidarity rallies were held in cities including Tunis, Sidi Bouzid and Gafsa on Thursday, with several reports of suicide attempts as frustration over the lack of jobs boiled over. The unemployment is growing, according to the OECD, found 62 percent of College graduates have no Job. We’re not asking for much, but we’re fighting for our youth.
“His dream was to work, he didn’t like taking money from people”, he said.
“Security-wise, it has started to stabilize”, interior ministry spokesman Walid Louguini told AFP.
The previous night, a police officer died after protesters flipped his auto, the government said.
An IS suicide bombing also killed 12 presidential guards in the capital in November.
Tunisia has the dubious distinction of exporting the highest number of fighters to the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria and Iraq.
Essid said Tunisia is a new democracy, and his government is aware of the difficulties it faces.
Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Tunis, said that thousands of dissatisfied people have taken to the streets in recent days, demanding immediate action against unemployment and poor economic conditions. We won’t go back to our homes until we get something concrete this time…
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Tourism, the main driver of Tunisia’s economy, plummeted after last year’s attacks, leaving even the relatively prosperous coastal areas struggling.
