'First Wikileaks Revolution': Tunisia descends into anarchy as president flees after cables reveal country's corruption



President Ben Ali goes into exile in Saudi Arabia after 23 years in power

But his departure does not calm riots as anarchy breaks out



Power changes hands for second time in 24 hours as Constitutional Court declares president has left office 'for good'



Published US Embassy cables likened President's family to a Mafia elite



Department of State issues travel alert to avoid the north African country



Events in Tunisia have led to it being called the 'First Wikileaks Revolution'.

Although there has long been opposition to the corrupt rule of President Ben Ali, protests gathered pace when US embassy cables were published by Wikileaks.



Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled the North African state he ruled for 23 years yesterday. He has gone into exile in Saudi Arabia.



But his departure has not calmed the violence as anarchy broke out on the streets of Tunis today.



Overthrown: President Ben Ali has his hand over his heart as he makes a last-ditch appeal to protestors on television on Thursday. He and wife Leila Ben Ali, shown right, were forced to flee Tunisia yesterday



Taking flight: Police stand outside of a Tunisian Falcon aircraft in which President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was thought to have been travelling in, after it landed at Elmas Cagliari Airport in Sardinia Island yesterday - but Italian government sources later swore Ben Ali was not on board

Escalation: A column of smoke rises from buildings during clashes between protesters and police in Tunis on Friday

Dozens of inmates were killed in a prison fire, looters emptied shops and torched the main train station and gunfire echoed through the capital today.

Hundreds of soldiers are patrolling the streets in tanks in an effort to calm the violence.



Yesterday Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi took charge as the interim leader.

But today power changed hands for the second time in 24 hours as the head of the Constitutional Court declared that Ben Ali had left office for good, not temporally - negating the prime minister's move to assume power.



The speaker of the lower house of parliament, Fouad Mebazaa, temporarily took the highest office, and he has two months to organise new elections.



Chaos: Looters scrabble for goods in a destroyed store in the capital of Tunis today

Show of force: Hundreds of Tunisian soldiers are patrolling the streets of Tunis today in an effort to calm the riots

A recently released June 2009 cable referred to the president and his siblings as 'The Family', likening them to a Mafia elite who ran Tunisia's economy.



The cables, published in December, also claimed that the president's wife - Leila Ben Ali - had made huge profits out of the building of an exclusive school.



The cables lifted the veil on the corruption of the country's elite. Another cable which detailed how much the first family was loathed was blocked.



Fire takes hold at a seaside villa in the chic Mediterranean resort of Hammamet which is popular with Europeans and the country's ruling class. The building is said to belong to a member of the Tunisian president's inner circle

'Assassin': Protesters took to the streets in Tunis yesterday and claimed that President Ben Ali, who made an impassioned speech last night, will not be forgiven after 23 died in the riots

Riots: A youth hurls a pole as a fire rages in the Tunisian capital Tunis Within weeks, word of mouth had forced protestors onto the streets, culminating in yesterday's revolution.

In the banned cable, US ambassador Robert Godec wrote: 'Corruption in the inner circle is growing. Even average Tunisians are now keenly aware of it, and the chorus of complaints is rising.

'Tunisians intensely dislike, even hate, first lady Leila Trabelsi and her family. In private, regime opponents mock her.'

Mr Godec headlined some of the passages in the banned cable as 'The Sky's the Limit,' 'All in the Family,' 'Yacht Wanted,' 'Show Me Your Money', to show how the Ben Alis were operating. Anger over the corruption and the lack of jobs ignited a month of protests, but Mr Ben Ali's departure - a key demand of demonstrators - has not calmed the unrest.

While the protests were mostly peaceful, after the president fled rioters burned the main train station in Tunis and looted shops. Unrelenting: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (centre) has vowed his site's activities will continue and he is stepping up publishing for matters related to 'cablegate'

A fire in a prison in the Mediterranean coastal resort of Monastir killed 42 people, coroner Tarek Mghirbi said. The cause of the fire was not clear. Sporadic gunfire was heard in the capital of Tunis. Smoke billowed over a giant supermarket outside the capital as looters torched and emptied it. The army fired warning shots to scare them away, to little avail. Soldiers intervened today to try to stop looters from sacking the huge supermarket in the Ariana area, 20 miles north of the capital. Shops near the main bazaar were also looted. A helicopter circled low over the capital, apparently acting as a spotter for fires or pillaging. Gunfire crackled anew today.

Deadly: The Tunisian government say that 23 people have been killed in the riots, but the opposition party claim the real figure is much higher In spite of his televised address to the nation last night vowing to make concessions Tunisians still blame President Ben Ali for the country's ills

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Public television station TV7 broadcast phone calls from residents of working-class neighbourhoods on the capital's outskirts, describing attacks against their homes by knife-wielding assailants.

Saudi King Abdullah's palace confirmed today that the ousted president and his family had landed in Saudi Arabia, saying the kingdom welcomed him with a wish for 'peace and security to return to the people of Tunisia'.

Thousands of tourists were evacuated from the Mediterranean nation known for its sandy beaches, desert landscapes and ancient ruins.

American travellers were yesterday warned against non-essential travel to the north African country amid the risk of violence during demonstrations in the country.

The Department of State's travel alert warned of 'intesifying political and social unrest' including clashes between protesters and police that have resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries.



'The unrest has recently spread to Tunis and all major cities, including popular tourist destinations', the travel alert said.



'While these disturbances appear to be triggered by economic concerns, and not to be directed toward Westerners, US citizens are urged to remain alert to local security developments and to be vigilant regarding their personal security', the alert continued.



Police crackdowns in the past month of riots have resulted in 66 deaths, according to an international human rights organisation.

President Ben Ali, who came to power in a bloodless coup in 1987, had said he would leave the presidency when his term ends in 2014 but yesterday bowed down to protestors' demands.



Angry: A rioter hurls a rock at the police in Regueb, near Sidi Bouzid

Anarchy: A fire rages in the capital Tunis as chaos reigns

Protests: The violence reached Tunis on Thursday, provoking the president to make a passionate speech

Calling for a 'cease-fire', Mr Ben Ali, 74, told his nation in a televised speech: 'I have understood you.



'I have understood the demands about unemployment, the demands about necessities, and the political demands for more freedoms.'

He fled with his family on Friday for Saudi Arabia.



The peaceful march came as Tunisia's only legal trade union went ahead yesterday with a symbolic two-hour strike in the region of the capital.



Lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said this week that they fear he could face execution in the United States if he is extradited to Sweden.



The 39-year-old whistleblower is wanted by the Swedish authorities over claims that he sexually assaulted two women during a visit to Stockholm in August.

