TUNIS, Tunisia - A protester was fatally shot and an American journalist was hit in the leg by police gunfire Thursday as rioting youths clashed with authorities in Tunisia's capital for the second day, witnesses said.
The violence in the heart of Tunis sharply escalated a conflict between protesters angry over unemployment and repression and an authoritarian government that appears more and more willing to use force to put down its greatest challenge in decades.
At least 23 people, possibly dozens more, have now been killed.
On Thursday, rioters hurled stones at trams and government buildings in Tunisia's capital. In one clash near the state radio headquarters in central Tunis, police fired on protesters with bullets, two witnesses said.
One protester was hit by a sniper on the balcony of a building overlooking the violence, said witness Hassene Ayadi, who lives in the surrounding La Fayette neighborhood.
In the melee, an American journalist was wounded in the leg, according to another witness who spoke on condition of anonymity out of concerns for his security. The witness said police did not appear to be targeting the journalist, who was taken to the Charles Nicolles Hospital.
The journalists' identity and employer were not immediately clear. The U.S. Embassy would not comment, citing privacy considerations.
The unprecedented violence has revealed deep anger against autocratic President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who has clamped down on civil liberties, jailed opponents and tightly controlled the media during 23 years of rule in the Mediterranean tourist haven where unrest had been rare.
European governments upped their criticism of the violence and warned its citizens about travel in Tunisia.
Ben Ali announced plans to give his third television address since the start of tensions later in Thursday.
Unions, meanwhile, announced a general strike for Friday in Tunis and some other regions.
Overnight, police fire killed four people who defied a government curfew in several towns, opposition members said, driving up a death toll already in the dozens.
Looters in the Bizerte region raided a supermarket, pharmacy, clothing shops and a bookstore amid chaos, said union leader and human rights advocate Souad Ghousami, a member of the opposition PDP party.
Security forces appeared unable or unwilling to intervene, and the military appeared to focus its efforts on protecting public buildings, she said. Many youths were taken into custody.
The government's death toll stands at 23, while opposition figures and witnesses say it is more than 50, including the deaths overnight near Tunis and in the northern region of Bizerte. French and Swiss citizens visiting their native country were among those killed, the two European governments said.
In the capital, which until this week had been spared the violence erupting in provincial towns, rioters threw stones at Metro trains, forcing them to return to their depot. The Interior Ministry building and a municipal services building were among targets of protesters' anger.
Near the French Embassy, hundreds of protesters, some throwing rocks, clashed with undercover officers and riot police who fired tear gas in an effort to disperse them, a witness said.
Police were deployed on major thoroughfares in the capital, and stores across town were shuttered -- as was the central souk, or market.
The European Union has complained about the disproportionate use of force in a country that is considered an oasis of calm compared to its neighbors, Algeria and Libya.
