TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisian police arrested 237 people, including two Islamists, for attacking police stations and government buildings and for vandalism in anti-government protests, the interior ministry said on Wednesday, as a Jewish school was attacked. Tunisia has seen days of street protests against hikes in value-added tax and social security contributions introduced earlier this month as the government grapples with a growing budget deficit and the need to meet its foreign debt obligations. "Three hundred and thirty people involved in acts of sabotage and robbery were arrested last night," Interior Ministry spokesman Khelifa Chibani said bringing the number of detainees since the protests began to around 600, as reported by Reuters. The authorities have deployed military units to protect government buildings, banks and stores and threatened to clamp down on violent protests some of which have resulted in looting, setting buildings on fire and violent clashes with the police. "Unknown people took the opportunity of the protests and threw Molotov cocktails into the lobby of a Jewish religious school in Djerba," the head of the local Jewish community, Perez Trabelsi, told Reuters. Uprisings in 2011 and two major militant attacks in 2015 damaged foreign investment and tourism, which account for eight percent of Tunisia's economic activity.Protests are common in the North African state in the month of January, when Tunisians mark the anniversary of the 2011 revolt.
More than two hundred people are arrested across Tunisia as protests against economic conditions continue to grip the North African country. At least 49 police officers have been injured during clashes with protesters.