SHORTLY before four o'clock on the afternoon of Monday January 10th, Tunisians gathered around their televisions to listen to Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia's ruler since 1987, address the nation for a second time after three weeks of protests . Over the weekend the protests turned bloody, with at least 35 deaths in the region of Kasserine, near the town of Sibi Bouzid where the unrest started in mid-December.

To the disappointment of many Tunisians, Mr Ben Ali did not address the social and political grievances behind the protests, nor did he signal any willingness to change. The president promised to create 300,000 jobs for unemployed graduates within two years (though with no details on how this might be accomplished), but most of his speech consisted of threats against what he described as "hostile elements in the pay of foreigners, who have sold their souls to extremism and terrorism and are manipulated from abroad."

"It would have been better not to say anything," says Fares Mabrouk, a Tunisian activist in Paris who helps disseminate videos of protests uploaded from mobile phones. The footage has been shared around the world but few have seen it in Tunisia itself, where the internet is heavily censored and the authorities have recently been discovered swiping usernames and passwords from websites such as Facebook. "Millions were awaiting that speech. Ben Ali does not seem to understand the seriousness of the situation."

Mr Mabrouk does not come from the neglected central part of the country where the most violent protests have taken place. But like a growing number of more privileged Tunisians, he worries that an opportunity for reform is being passed over in favour of greater repression. The weekend's deadly intervention by police along with the mass arrests of protestors and a crackdown on bloggers who support them suggest the regime is panicking.

In an attempt to crack down on the demonstrations, schools and universities have been temporary closed. But that may simply free young people, who form the bulk of the protesters, to take to the streets. For the first time since he became president, the portraits of Mr Ben Ali that adorn many buildings have been ripped and burned, while anger mounts against him and his wife's family, whom many Tunisians believe have amassed a large fortune through corruption.

Some Tunisians hope that Mr Ben Ali will go the way of Nicolae Ceausescu, the Romanian dictator abandoned by his military after mass protests. Rumours, so far unsubstantiated, have spread that the chief of staff of the army, Rachid Ben Ammar, was dismissed after he told police not to fire on protesters.

As yet Tunisia's protests have had no clear leadership. The spontaneous outbursts of poorer regions have now been joined by trade unions. Members of the normally docile official opposition have issued statements urging Mr Ben Ali to prevent the police from using real bullets against protesters. General strikes are being planned later in the week, and a curfew was announced in Tunis on Tuesday. It is not clear where Tunisia's winter of discontent is heading, but it has gone beyond economic grievances and shows no sign of abating.