Tunisia's Prime Minister Habib Essid has held an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss a wave of protests and rioting over growing unemployment.

The meeting on Saturday came a day after the government declared a nationwide curfew after four days of violence.

"People should understand that we can reach a solution, yet this requires a great amount of patience and positiveness. And, as I said, many dark ideologies are taking advantage of the peaceful demonstrations and the enthusiasm of many youth," Essid told a press conference.

"Many enemies do not wish to Tunisia or Tunisians successful. They feel undermined by the democratic process. They are doing all they can to disturb the harmony of our democracy and the historic transition period Tunisia has seen. The transition is inevitable. The transition is irreversible," Essid added.

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Tunis, said that thousands of dissatisfied people have taken to the streets in recent days, demanding immediate action against unemployment and poor economic conditions.

"They say we voted for this government because we had hopes that this government would tackle corruption, poverty and offer job opportunities for almost a million unemployed Tunisians," he said.

"The government is saying that it does not have a quick fix and that it will take sometime before it can meet the people's demands. It is quiet a delicate situation for a government that just few years ago was promising a better future." Ahelbarra said.

International backing

Protests over unemployment in Tunisia, which started in the western Kasserine province, intensified and spread to other parts of the country on Thursday.

On Friday, President Beji Caid Essebsi said in a televised address that the government would put a programme in place to try to ease the unemployment rate.

He also warned that members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in neighbouring Libya may use the unrest in Tunisia to sneak into the country.

France will provide $1.1bn over five years to help Tunisia deal with its transition to democracy, French President Francois Hollande said on Friday.

Ahelbarra said the only option for the Tunisian government at the moment is to ask for more international support to prevent a further descent towards more instability

"This is exactly why President Essebsi yesterday was stressing the fact that groups like ISIL are seizing the opportunity to try to further destabilise Tunisia," he said.

"But the problem that you have here in the country is that people are waiting for immediate decisions to be taken by the government."

Meanwhile, the country's interior ministry said on Saturday that 423 people have been arrested across the country for been involved in acts of violence.

Al Jazeera