Several travel agencies said they would fly holidaymakers back to Switzerland by Sunday adding that all bookings for trips to Tunisia have been suspended.
More than 300 holidaymakers left Tunisia on board several flights on Saturday according to travel agencies quoted by the Swiss News Agency.
The Swiss foreign ministry has set up an emergency service and urged tourists to contact their tour operators.
The ministry warned Swiss citizens to avoid demonstrations and public gatherings. It has advised people against travelling to Tunisia.
The Tunisian president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, fled with his family to Saudi Arabia on Friday after being forced from office. The parliamentary speaker, Foued Mebazza, was sworn in as interim president.
Troops are patrolling the centre of the capital, Tunis, and a state of emergency is in force.
Dozens of people, including a Swiss-Tunisian national, have been killed in recent weeks as unrest spread around the country and security forces cracked down on demonstrations over unemployment, corruption and high food prices.
The Swiss president, Micheline Calmy-Rey, on Friday said she hoped the situation in Tunisia would calm down and reiterated that Switzerland had called for the respect of human rights.
She said the foreign ministry had called on the Tunisian authorities to investigate the death of a 67-year-old Swiss nurse in Dar Chabaane.
There are about 1,300 Swiss living in Tunisia, mainly dual nationals, and the north African country is a popular destination for Swiss tourists.
Meanwhile, an estimated 1,000 people – mainly Tunisians living in the French-speaking part of Switzerland – have taken to streets of Geneva and Lausanne to celebrate the end of Ben Ali’s 23-year rule in Tunisia.
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Swiss woman killed watching demo in Tunisia
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The woman was a Swiss-Tunisian with dual nationality. Swiss French-language radio reported on Thursday that the victim, aged 67, was killed by a stray bullet while watching a demonstration in the town of Dar Chaabane on Wednesday evening. The woman, who was employed at the university hospital in the western Swiss city of Lausanne, was…
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The fire bombs failed to ignite and caused minimal damage, Bern police said. The attack took place shortly after midnight and the unknown assailants managed to get away. Police have appealed for witnesses and said they were studying motives for the attack. Tunisia has been rocked in recent days by a wave of violence that…
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The unrest also touched the Swiss capital, Bern, early on Wednesday, when several fire bombs were hurled at the Tunisian embassy. The devices failed to explode, causing minor damage and no injuries. A Geneva-based support committee for Tunisians distanced itself from the Bern attack and issued a statement “reaffirming its commitment to a peaceful popular…
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Thousands of lawyers went on strike in Tunisia on Thursday, a week after a police crackdown on protests against unemployment. A Tunisian graduate whose suicide attempt last month set off the initial protests died on Wednesday. Mohammed Bouazizi, 26, set himself on fire in front of a government building in the central town of Sidi…
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