Tunisia opens airspace as fresh riots erupt

Tunis: Tunisia's airspace and airports are open for civilian flights, the official news agency said on Saturday, a day after several flights were cancelled.

"The office for civil aviation and airports states Tunisian airspace and all the airports are open for air traffic, contrary to what has been reported in some media," the office said in a statement quoted by the official TAP news agency.

The statement came as the Tunisian capital's main train station was burnt to the ground, and shops ransacked and looted in violence that came after the North African nation's president fled the country.

Tunisians have awoken following a tense night after their president was driven from power by violent protests over soaring unemployment and corruption. The end of a curfew revealed the extent of the damage.

The main train station in Tunis is in ruins after a fire there. A big chain store outside the capital was vandalised and sacked. An AP photographer saw the army intervening there Saturday to try to stop the pillaging.