49 Police Hurt in Djerba Clashes

Forty-nine policemen were injured in clashes with demonstrators protesting against the reopening of a rubbish dump on the tourist island of Djerba on Saturday, an interior ministry spokesman told Agence France Pressse.

"A large number of protesters in the center of Gallala attacked a police post with rocks and petrol bombs," Khaled Tarrouche said. "There were 49 police injured, with fractures and other injuries caused by rocks and petrol bombs."

He said six police vehicles were burned, no arrests were made and just two demonstrators were hurt, "which shows the violence came from the protesters, not the police."

Tarrouche said reinforcements have been sent from the capital to Gallala, a town of some 13,000 people in southern Djerba, a popular tourist destination.

The spokesman said the trouble was sparked by a decision by the local authorities to reopen a rubbish dump until 2013.