<p>Thousands rallied in Tunis and other cities yesterday, while hundreds of protesters backed by the UGTT union launched a march on the capital from the impoverished region where an uprising began last month, ending strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's 23-year rule.<br />Participants at the march called their protest a "caravan of liberation".<br /><br />"The aim of this caravan is to make the government fall," said Rabia Slimane, 40, a teacher from Menzel Bouzaiane, where the first victim of the uprising was killed by security forces last month.<br /><br />The peaceful anti-government demonstrators in Tunis were joined by hundreds of police officers, some of whom briefly blocked a car carrying interim president Foued Mebazaa, the speaker of parliament.<br /><br />Public assemblies of more than three people are officially banned under a state of emergency that remains in place, along with a night-time curfew.<br /><br />The General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT under its French acronym), which played a vital role in the movement against Ben Ali, has refused to recognise the new government because of its inclusion of figures from the old regime.<br />Ghannouchi has been prime minister in Tunisia since 1999.</p>
<p>Thousands rallied in Tunis and other cities yesterday, while hundreds of protesters backed by the UGTT union launched a march on the capital from the impoverished region where an uprising began last month, ending strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's 23-year rule.<br />Participants at the march called their protest a "caravan of liberation".<br /><br />"The aim of this caravan is to make the government fall," said Rabia Slimane, 40, a teacher from Menzel Bouzaiane, where the first victim of the uprising was killed by security forces last month.<br /><br />The peaceful anti-government demonstrators in Tunis were joined by hundreds of police officers, some of whom briefly blocked a car carrying interim president Foued Mebazaa, the speaker of parliament.<br /><br />Public assemblies of more than three people are officially banned under a state of emergency that remains in place, along with a night-time curfew.<br /><br />The General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT under its French acronym), which played a vital role in the movement against Ben Ali, has refused to recognise the new government because of its inclusion of figures from the old regime.<br />Ghannouchi has been prime minister in Tunisia since 1999.</p>