Tunisia police join protests

Thousands of demonstrators, including police officers, lawyers and students, have taken to the streets of Tunisia's capital in another day of unrest in the North African country.

While many protesters are continuing to demand the dissolution of the interim government, police officers who have also joined the protests are seeking better working conditions and an improvement to what they call unfair media portrayal.

Saturday's protests come in the wake of a month of turmoil that toppled Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia's longstanding ruler.

Crowds gathered in front of the office of Mohamed Ghannouchi, the interim prime minister, and on Tunis' main street, the Avenue Habib Bourguiba. They were joined by members of the national guard and fire departments.

Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshiri, reporting from Tunis, said that police were marching with protesters, wearing red armbands in solidarity with the marching crowds.

At the prime minister's office, Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reported, protesters broke through barricades but no violence occurred.

Many are angry over the inclusion of several prominent members of Ben Ali's cabinet in the new interim government. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets on Friday as well, seeking the dissolution of the interim administration.

Ghannouchi's pledge
In an effort to dampen continued anger, Ghannouchi, a former ally of Ben Ali, has pledged to quit politics after elections that he says will be held as soon as possible.

The army and the justice department have been ordered to preserve any documents and evidence that can be gathered so the old government can be implicated throughout the investigation, our correspondent said.

Mourning period
Tunisia began three days of mourning on Friday, lowering flags to half-mast and broadcasting recitations of the Quran to mourn dozens who died in the protests that drove the Ben Ali from power.

Central Tunis has seen near-daily demonstrations in the past week by those who say the caretaker government is still too dominated by allies of the ousted president, but security forces and the army have not opened fire since Ben Ali's overthrow.

The US, meanwhile, has voiced support for the will of the Tunisian people.

"It is very important that we have a broad dialogue with civil society, some important steps have already been taken by authorising opposition parties and liberalising media coverage," PJ Crowley, the US state department spokesman, told Al Jazeera.

"These are important steps by clearly it needs to be more to satisfy the Tunisian people."

The US ambassador to Tunisia, Gordon Gray, told Al Jazeera earlier in his first public remarks on the uprising that the democratic transition remained "a work in progress" and represented "a new phenomenon".