FYI Mass protests after Tunisian opposition leader shot dead By Tony Todd the 06/02/2013 - 12:45
Offices of Tunisia's ruling Islamist Ennahda party have been attacked and thousands of angry Tunisians are protesting after the killing Wednesday morning of leading leftist and secular politician Chokri Belaid. Thousands of angry Tunisians took to the streets of the capital Tunis Wednesday following the assassination of a leading secular opposition figure earlier that morning. Chokri Belaid, who was secretary general of the leftist Democratic Patriotic Party, was shot in the head and neck and died as he was taken to hospital. While motives for his killing remained unclear on Wednesday, Belaid's party was a member of the Popular Front coalition of parties that is vigorously opposed to the government, dominated by the Islamist Ennahda party, which was elected in December 2011. Many thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the capital as well as several other Tunisian towns to voice their anger at what they perceived to be a crime committed by Islamists in the face of secular opposition. According to agency reports, the offices of the Ennahda party were "sacked" and "torched" in the towns of Mezzouna and Gafsa, where angry protests were also taking place. Attacks A leading voice of secular opposition in Tunisia, he was also a harsh critic of the Islamists who have come to dominate Tunisian politics since the country's revolution in early 2011. Several opposition parties and trade unions have accused the pro-Islamists of orchestrating attacks against them. Alaa Talbi, a close friend of Belaid, told FRANCE 24 that the politician had been threatened and "beaten up" on Sunday during a party meeting in the town of Kef. Meanwhile, Belaid's wife Basma told FRANCE 24 that she had no doubt that Ennahda was responsible for her husband's murder. "I accuse Ennahda and the party leader Ghannouchi personally of assassinating my husband," she said. "I'm going to file charges of murder. I hold the interior minister equally responsible." `They wanted to shut him up' Tunisia is witnessing a rise in violence fed by political and social discontent, more than two years after the revolution that toppled former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Ennahda won 40% of the vote in elections held in December 2012, dominating politics in a country that has a long secular history, and amid much vocal opposition to Islamist policies. The party's leaders were quick to condemn Belaid's murder. Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, a senior figure in the Ennahda movement, told Tunisian radio: "This was a political assassination and an assassination of the Tunisian revolution." "In killing him, they wanted to shut him up." Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki announced Wednesday that he was returning early from Egypt, where he was attending the Islamic Conference Organisation meeting. Speaking to reporters, Marzouki called Belaid's killing an "odious assassination". Source URL: http://www.france24.com/en/20130206-tunisia-assassination-chokri-belaid-tunisia ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
