Tunisia Accuses 'Dirty Hands' of Fuelling Unrest

Protests over unemployment in Tunisia, which started in the western Kasserine province, intensified and spread to other parts of the country on Thursday.

On Friday, Essebsi said in a televised address that the government will put in place a programme to try to ease the jobless rate that spurred protests in impoverished regions.

Such protests were "natural", Essebsi said. "There is no dignity without work... You can't tell someone who has nothing to eat to stay patient."

"After the start of these demonstrations, ill-intentioned hands have intervened and inflamed the situation," the president said in his first public remarks since the troubles broke out, Al Jazeera reported.

Essebsi said that there were "dirty hands" involved in the unrest after Tunisia declared a nationwide curfew  over the protests.

"We have more than 700,000 unemployed, among them 300,000 youth who have qualifications and cannot find a job. And they are being targeted by outside forces, ISIL and others," he said.

Protests and clashes in Kasserine started on Saturday after the death of an unemployed man who was electrocuted on top of a power pole near the governor's office.

Solidarity rallies were held in cities including Tunis, Sidi Bouzid and Gafsa, with several reports of suicide attempts as frustration over the lack of jobs boiled over.

Economic conditions have worsened since autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali was toppled in 2011 and the country, still being transformed into a democracy, is now facing its worst unrest since then.

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbara, reporting from Tunis, said that Essebsi's statements displayed two main messages: "One is that the government is committed to answering their demands for job opportunities, but he also said the government is not going to tolerate situations getting out of control, warning that groups like ISIL could take advantage of the situation."