TUNIS: Tunisia’s secular opposition said yesterday it might set up an alternative “salvation government” to challenge the Islamist-led ruling coalition and show its anger at the assassinations of two leftist politicians in six months.
Opposition leaders, who have also been emboldened by the Egyptian army’s overthrow of an Islamist president this month, said they had no interest in reconciliation with the dominant Islamist Ennahda party.
“We will meet this evening to discuss creating a new salvation government and will study the possibility of nominating a new prime minister to replace this failed government,” said Jilani Hammami, a leader of the Salvation laFront coalition and Tunisian Workers’ Party. “There is no longer any doubt that the time for it to go has now passed.”
Tunisians are bracing for what many worry may be one of the most tumultuous periods in their transition to democracy since the toppling of autocratic President Zein El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, a revolt that inspired uprisings across the Arab world.
Cabinet ministers are set to meet today to discuss the growing political crisis, a government official said, and a message from the prime minister to the nation is also expected.
On Thursday, assailants shot dead leftist politician Mohamed Brahmi using the same gun, according to the government, as was used to kill secular opposition leader Chokri Belaid on February 6.
The opposition holds Ennahda responsible for Brahmi’s killing, which the government has blamed on hardline Salafist militants. Some violent protests have erupted in the capital Tunis as well as provincial cities since Brahmi’s assassination.
Yesterday, competing pro- and anti-government protesters waving red Tunisian flags assembled on opposite sides of a square outside parliament, as dozens of black-uniformed security men stood guard.
There was no immediate violence, but the interior ministry called on one of the protest groups to move to another area in order to prevent clashes.
Hundreds of opposition supporters sang the national anthem and shouted “Get out” on their side of the square. A smaller crowd of dozens of pro-Ennahda demonstrators chanted back: “Respecting government legitimacy is a duty.”reuters
