Police used tear gas to break up violent protests late on Saturday in Tunisia’s southern town of Sidi Bouzid, Reuters reported.
Sidi Bouzid was the site of the first clashes in the 2011 revolution and hometown of assassinated secular opposition figure Mohamed Brahmi, whose funeral took place on Saturday.
Large protests have taken place throughout Tunisia since Brahmi’s death on Thursday. In Sidi Bouzid, witnesses told Reuters that protesters threw rocks at police.
“Hundreds of protesters lit tires on fire to block roads and they threw rocks at the police,” resident Mahdi al-Horshani told Reuters by telephone. “There is a lot of anger and frustration at the situation.”
Tension has escalated in Tunisia since Brahmi’s assassination which came just months after another secular opposition figure, Chokri Belaid, was killed.
Secular opposition groups immediately organized huge protests demanding the dissolution of the Islamist-led coalition government, whom they blame for both killings.
Their movement has been galvanized by the recent protests in Egypt which led to the military overthrow of democratically elected Islamist president Mohamed Mursi.
Seeking to avoid conflict in the highly charged atmosphere in Tunisia, particularly in the capital, secular parties in the coalition said they were in talks to achieve a new power-sharing deal with the ruling Islamist Ennahda party.
The spokesman for the Constituent Assembly, Tunisia’s transitional parliament which is in the process of drafting a constitution, said he expected a deal within a few hours.
“The trend now is to move towards expanding the base of power,” Mufdi al-Masady told a local radio station.
A new power-sharing deal between secular coalition partners and Ennahda could help ease the tension. But the protests appear to be increasingly confrontational.
Saturday night saw a face-off in Tunis between secular protesters demanding the dissolution of the government and Islamist protesters defending its legitimacy in one of the biggest sets of rival rallies yet in the capital, Reuters reported.
Opposition protesters carried signs saying: “Leave” and “We won’t leave before you do.”
Hundreds of Islamist protesters rallied at a mosque next to the secular protests, vowing to support the government.
No clashes were reported at the protests, but hundreds of police were standing on the sidelines, according to Reuters.
Earlier on Saturday, police fired teargas to break up secular protesters who gathered in front of parliament following Brahmi’s funeral.
-
Tunisia unveils suspected killer of opposition leader Brahimi
Tunisian opposition member Mohamed al-Brahimi was killed with the same gun used to assassinate politician Chokri Belaid six months earlier, Interior ... Middle East -
Tunisia faces strike after opposition’s Brahimi assassinated
Tunisia faced a general strike on Friday as the country was plunged into crisis after gunmen shot dead a leading opposition figure, an assassination ... Middle East -
Suspects behind Tunisia assassination ‘identified’
Six people believed to have orchestrated the killing of an opposition figure whose assassination in February plunged Tunisia into a major political ... Middle East -
Tunisia PM warns against call to dissolve assembly
Tunisia’s Tamarod movement, which has called for the dissolution of the National Constituent Assembly, is endangering the country’s ... Middle East -
Ennahda supporters assault Al Arabiya crew in Tunisia
Supporters of the Tunisian ruling party Ennahda assaulted Al Arabiya television’s crew in Tunis on Saturday, while the crew was covering a march ... News -
Tunisia's Islamist PM says Egypt scenario unlikely to happen there
A situation like the one unfolding in Egypt is unlikely to happen in Tunisia - the cradle of the Arab Spring - Prime Minister Ali Larayedh of the ... Features