TUNIS: Tunisian police fired tear gas in front of parliament yesterday to disperse secular protesters demanding the dissolution of the assembly and Islamists defending the legitimacy of their rule.
Police began firing after the arrival of thousands of opposition protesters who had been attending the funeral of assassinated secular politician Mohamed Brahmi. Protesters threw stones at police and there were several injuries.
Secular opposition parties are demanding the dissolution of the parliament and the Islamist-led government.
“The people want to topple the regime!” and “With our blood and with our souls we will sacrifice ourselves for the martyr,” people in the crowd shouted.
“Ghannouchi, assassin, criminal,” others chanted, referring to Rached Ghannouchi, leader of the ruling Islamist Ennahda party that Brahmi’s family says was behind the killing.
Ghannouchi has denounced Thursday’s assassination as an attack on democracy.
In a counter-demonstration, hundreds of Islamists flocked in front of the parliament chanting slogans condemning what they called an attempted coup against democracy.
The Interior Ministry issued a statement calling for calm.
Brahmi was gunned down outside his Tunis home on Thursday, months after another secular leader, Chokri Belaid, was killed in a similar attack.
Brahmi was buried near Belaid’s tomb at the Al Jalez cemetery in central Tunis. The funeral was attended by Brahmi’s widow and son and several prominent politicians.
Witnesses said one man was killed early yesterday in an anti-government protest in the southern city of Gafsa. Violence also broke out in several other cities.
A bomb in a police car exploded in Tunis but caused no casualties.
The secular Democratic Alliance Party yesterday withdrew 10 of its members from the 217-seat Constituent Assembly, taking the number of deputies who had withdrawn from parliament in protest against the killing of Brahmi to 52.
The assembly, controlled by Islamists, is in charge of drafting a new constitution for the nation of 11 million people.
REUTERS
