Tunisia's leader calls for emergency, country 'not safe'
Tunisia's president declared a state of emergency Saturday, more a week after a shooting rampage left dozens dead.
President Beji Caid Essebsi says the country is "not safe" from further extremist attacks and has declared the state of emergency to avoid what he says is a risk of collapse.
The state of emergency, which will last 30 days, expands the authority of law enforcement and restricts some rights of citizens.
A week ago Friday, a lone gunman killed 38 people, mostly foreign tourists, and wounded dozens of others on a beach outside the Imperial Marhaba hotel in Sousse, a coastal town 90 miles southeast of Tunis. In March, two gunmen killed 22 people, also mostly tourists, at the Bardo Museum in the capital of Tunis. In both cases, security forces killed the gunmen.
Prime Minister Habib Essid laid wreaths on the scene of the Imperial Marhaba hotel Friday. Essid said the fight against terrorism is a collective responsibility, not just the job of the government and security forces, state news agency TAP reported.
Tunisia is a former French colony that gained independence in 1956. A popular revolution in January 2011 at the start of the Arab Spring led to the election in October 2011 of a new government. The government currently is led by the secular Nida Tounes party and its coalition partner, the Islamist Ennahda party. Ennahda lost power in November's elections after ruling since 2011.
The U.S. government has committed more than $350 million to the country's democratic transition.
The last state of emergency was at the outbreak of the Arab Spring, from January 2011 until March 2014. Since then, police and the military have retained powers to intervene in unrest or for security reasons.
Contributing: The Associated Press