Officials accuse protesters of pelting security forces with petrol bombs.
TUNIS - A demonstrator was shot and killed and several others wounded in Tunisia Friday amid clashes with police over unemployment and high inflation, union and government officials said.
Hafnaoui Al-Maghzaoui, 25, was hit in the right lung and died immediately when police opened fire at Redeyef in the country's southwestern Gafsa region, said union leader Adnane Hajji.
Eighteen other people were also struck by bullets, he told AFP by telephone from Redeyef.
Government officials confirmed the fatality but put the number of wounded at eight including five protesters and three police officers.
"Security forces were pelted with incendiary devices and moved to take out a number of people who had made them," a government official in Tunis said.
A government source confirmed the death and reported demonstrators and three security personnel injured.
Rising food and fuel prices have sparked riots and strikes around the world in recent months.
