Tunisian soldiers fired in the air and used tear gas in an effort to disperse dozens of youths who broke shop windows in central Tunis on Saturday.
Police told a Reuters reporter at the scene during the confrontation that the youths were loyalists of deposed president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
The North African state’s crime rates have soared since a popular uprising toppled Ben Ali on Jan. 14. Security officials often say his supporters are trying to destabilise the country.
"These are Ben Ali’s thugs," said a police officer at the scene, who asked that his name not be published.
The clash at Tunis’s Barcelona Station followed a large protest late on Friday against the make-up of the post-Ben Ali interim government. During that, security forces fired in the air to disperse protesters who burned tyres and threw rocks.
Critics of the interim government, which has promised to hold elections by mid-July, complain that it is too close to the old regime and has failed to provide adequate security.
Tunisia’s revolution inspired a similar revolt in Egypt and sparked protests elsewhere around the Arab world, including in neighbouring Libya.
