Tunisia has declared a curfew in the western city after clashes between police and more than 1,000 young protesters demonstrating for jobs.

The interior ministry says the clashes in Kasserine on Tuesday left 20 protesters injured as well as three police.

Tensions have risen in Kasserine since Sunday when an unemployed youth killed himself by scaling an electricity transmission tower to protest his rejection for a government job.

The self-immolation five years ago by another unemployed youth in the neighboring town of Sidi Bouzid set off a popular uprising that overthrew Tunisia's longtime ruler Zine El Abine Ben Ali, and eventually gave rise to the "Arab Spring" uprisings across North Africa.