Tunisia rejects Italian call to send immigration police

14 February 2011
Last updated at 00:50 GMT

Tunisia rejects Italian call to send immigration police

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The Tunisian government has condemned calls from Rome to Italian deploy police in Tunisia to tackle a sudden wave of immigration.

Spokesperson Tayeb Baccouche said Tunisians rejected the idea of foreign troops on their soil, but said the cabinet would debate the issue.

More than 4,000 migrants are reported to have arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa in the past few days.

Italy has declared a humanitarian emergency and called for EU assistance.

Last month, Tunisia's long-time President, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, quit amid a popular uprising later dubbed the Jasmine Revolution.

The BBC's Chloe Arnold says that since then, there have been strikes and clashes on the streets, and many police officers have abandoned their posts, leaving what some describe as a state of lawlessness.

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ENDS

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