Teenage boy killed in Tunisia protest

A 14-year-old boy was killed overnight when police broke up a demonstration in Sidi Bouzid, the birthplace of Tunisia's revolution, state media reported on Monday. A bullet ricocheted and killed the teenager while two other people were also wounded during the violence in central Tunisia, the official TAP news agency quoted local police chief Samir Al Meliti as saying. He said police opened fire in response to molotov cocktails hurled by demonstrators. The clashes started late Sunday and lasted until 3:00 am (0200 GMT), TAP reported, adding that nine people were arrested. The teenage boy, who was named as Thabet Belkacem, was already dead upon arrival at hospital in the central city of Sfax, a medical source in Sidi Bouzid told AFP. One of the two people wounded in the overnight violence is in serious condition, the medic said. Sidi Bouzid is the town where street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire on December 17 in protest at police harassment, touching off a popular uprising that led to the January departure of longtime dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali.