Posted on 03/18/2013 4:45:28 AM PDT by EBH
It was the biggest demonstration since Chokri Belaid was gunned down outside his house on February 6, igniting the worst unrest since the Jasmine Revolution that toppled strongman Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011 and started the Arab Spring.
In a bid to quell the protests, Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali resigned and was replaced by Ali Larayedh, a fellow member of the Islamist Ennahda party, who formed a new coalition government including independents in key ministries.
But protesters on Saturday blamed the ruling party for Belaid's murder and chanted "Ennahda go," "The people want a new revolution," and "The people want to bring down the regime."
No one has claimed responsibility for the killing, which Belaid's family blames on Ennahda. The party denies involvement and police say the killer was a radical Salafist Islamist.
Belaid, a left-wing lawyer, was shot at close range outside his Tunis home by an assassin who fled on a motorcycle.
His nine-party Popular Front bloc has only three seats in Tunisia's Constituent Assembly, which is acting as parliament and writing a new national charter, compared to some 120 for Ennahda and its partners. But Belaid spoke for many who fear religious radicals are stifling freedoms won in the Arab Spring.
The North African state's new Islamist-led government won a confidence vote on Wednesday although the death of an unemployed man who set himself on fire underscored popular discontent with high unemployment, inflation and corruption.
"They killed Chokri but they cannot kill the values of freedom defended by him," Belaid's widow Basma said in front of her husband's grave on Saturday.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Yeah, that’ll happen.
Exactly. My immediate response to the headline was “Good luck with that!”
Useful idiots. We’ve seen them before with respect to the Communists, the liberals in Tunisia are the same with respect to the Islamists.
Sooo, where is Islamic peace that muslims bark about.
The man who was killed was a leftist lawyer, according to the article. Even if they overthrow the Islamic government, they will be trading one tyranny for another if they end up with a bunch of leftists in charge. Sounds like a lose-lose deal.
> radical Salafist Islamist
As if there were any other type of islamist. No need to qualify pure evil. Why these people allow such evil to control them is beyond comprehension.
There is no peace in Islam - it’s about control and who control’s what and how much...We gave Iraq more infrastructure than ever - and look at it today - still rife with violence - political assassinations - VBIED’s - etc...it’s no better off now than it was under Saddam...then add Iranian influence to it...worst basket case of the M.E.
How’d that work out in Venezuela? And Chavez was an atheist, a peaceful atheist.
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