Tens of thousands rally in Tunis
2013-02-16 20:02
-
North Africa
This book describes a locale whose trans-cultural heritage serves as a crucial hinge.
Now R452.00
buy now
Tunis - Tens of thousands of supporters of Tunisia's
Islamist-led government marched in the capital on Saturday, one of the biggest
in a series of pro-government and opposition rallies sparked by the
assassination of a secular politician.
The 6 February killing of Chokri Belaid, a human rights
lawyer and opposition leader, has thrown Tunisia into political turmoil two
years after it staged the first of the Arab Spring revolts.
Violent protests, in which one policeman was killed, swept
Tunisia after the assassination, with crowds attacking offices of the ruling
Islamist party Ennahda in Tunis and elsewhere.
Islamists have launched counter-rallies, up to now much
smaller.
Election
Lotfi Hidouri, a spokesperson in the Interior Ministry, told
Reuters that more than 100 000 took part in Saturday's rally, or about twice
the number who turned out for Belaid's funeral. Security sources referred to
tens of thousands of demonstrators.
After Belaid's death, Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali promised
to form a non-partisan, technocratic cabinet to run the country until an
election could take place, despite complaints from within his own Ennahda party
and a junior non-Islamist coalition partner that he had failed to consult them.
In the strongest reaction yet to the proposal, Islamist
demonstrators flocked to central Tunis on Saturday to support the legitimacy of
the government.
"The initiative of the prime minister is a coup against
legitimacy, which gave power to Ennahda. That is a coup against the election
results," said protester Omar Salem.
Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi has rejected Jebali's
proposal for a technocrat government but said it was essential Islamists and
secular parties shared power now and in the future.
"Any stable rule in Tunisia needs a moderate
Islamist-secular coalition," he told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.
The Islamist demonstrators carried banners reading: "We
are loyal to the blood of the martyrs" and "The people want Ennahda
again".
National unity
In a speech to his supporters on Saturday Ghannouchi said
that the exclusion of Ennahda from government would threaten the national
unity.
"Ennahda will not leave power as long as people want
it," he said.
Belaid's killing by an unidentified gunman was Tunisia's
first political assassination in decades and has shaken a nation still seeking
stability after the overthrow of veteran strongman Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in
January 2011.
While the political transition has been more peaceful than
those in other Arab nations such as Egypt, Libya and Syria, tensions are
running high between Islamists and liberals who fear the loss of hard-won
liberties.
Secular groups have accused the Islamist-led government of a
lax response to attacks by ultra-orthodox Salafi Islamists on cinemas,
theatres, bars and individuals in recent months.
Jebali met with representatives of Ennahda and secular
parties on Friday to discuss the formation of a new government and said
consultations would continue on Monday.
