Tunisian Opposition Gives Leaders Deadline to Resign

Police killed in clashes

Tunisia's opposition gave the ruling Ennahda party a Friday morning deadline to resign or face more protests aimed at toppling the government, while demonstrations throughout the country spiraled into violence as opposing sides clashed and antigovernment activists torched Ennahda offices.

If the government doesn't resign by 10 a.m. Friday, the National Salvation Front, representing opposition parties, will call on supporters to continue a campaign of civil disobedience which saw a general strike in two cities Thursday. Student protests across the country saw clashes between the liberal student union and their Islamist peers supporting Ennahda, Tunisia's governing party.

In a troubling sign that the country was slipping further out of government control, the National Guard Union, representing police, staged large protests of their own Thursday, mourning the deaths of eight officers killed in clashes with militants the day before. The police were joined by thousands of students as they marched on two Ennahda offices and burned them to the ground in separate cities just hours outside the capital. Ennahda blamed the students union for the destruction of their offices.