Tunis, Tunisia (CNN) -- Tunisia's president vowed Thursday to cut prices of basic foodstuffs, to lift censorship and to ensure police do not use live ammunition except in self-defense, and implied that he will not run again for president.
"Enough violence," President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali said on national television after days of riots that have killed at least 21 people. "I also gave orders to the interior minister ... not to use live ammunition. It is unacceptable and unjustified unless someone uses his weapon and forces you to defend yourself".
Ben Ali said he had asked the prime minister to reduce prices of staples, including sugar, milk and bread and said he had decided to give "complete freedom to all media outlets ... as long as they respect our values and the value of the profession".
The 74-year-old president added that he would not push to change the law setting an age limit for presidential candidates in the next election in 2014. By then, he would have exceeded the 75-year age limit. "There will not be presidency for life," he said.
The president's remarks came as street unrest percolated and a message purportedly from an al Qaeda affiliate announced its support of protesters.
The demonstrators are protesting high unemployment, alleged corruption, rising prices, and limitations on rights in the North African nation perched on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea.
The wave of demonstrations was sparked by the suicide of an unemployed college graduate, a man who torched himself in December after police confiscated his fruit cart. CNN
