A YOUNG bride-to-be fears for the life of her fiance after she was forced to flee the violent unrest in Tunisia just two weeks before her fairytale wedding.

Lizzie Roe,18, from Bell Common near Epping, was preparing to tie the knot with 20-year-old Tunisian air conditioning mechanic Mohammed Amine.

They met while Lizzie was on holiday in the city of Sousse three years ago and, after a long-distance romance, she returned to the country on December 29 with her mother Jill, 60, ahead of the wedding in two weeks.

However, her dream became a nightmare when Mr Amine was brutally beaten up by police, forcing Miss Roe and her mother to flee the country without him.

A tearful Miss Roe said: “I’m totally distraught. Mohammed is the love of my life. I’m so worried about him.

“It’s like a war zone out there, like Iraq. I saw people with half their faces missing, smashed windows, trashed supermarkets, black smoke everywhere. It’s total chaos.

“Mohammed was pulled off the street and beaten to within an inch of his life. The police just grabbed him.

“He was taken to hospital with severe bruising and a broken arm and leg. Thank God he’s not dead.

“But I saw a lot of people even worse than him.

“People were shot dead in the street, beaten to a pulp. It was horrific.”

The previously peaceful country has rapidly descended into chaos over the last month, as anti-government protesters clashed violently with police, resulting in a reported 60 deaths.

Miss Roe added: “I can’t stop crying thinking about Mohammed out there still. I didn’t want to come back, despite the danger.

“It was a dream romance. Now that dream is in tatters.”