Thousands in Tunisian protest against extremists
TUNIS — Thousands of people rallied in central Tunis Thursday to express fears of extremism under an Islamist party that swept to power in October polls, but also to denounce unemployment and corruption.
About 2,000 to 3,000 students, teachers, miners and other protesters gathered outside Bardo Palace, where Tunisian lawmakers are gathered to draft a new constitution.
The protest was partly a response to ongoing demonstrations at a university outside the capital, where Islamists disrupted classes demanding a stop to mixed-sex classes and for female students to wear the full-face veil, or niqab.
University professors among the group chanted: "No to extremism" and "Hands off the teachers", among other slogans.
Students held up placards with anti-niqab phrases including: "Neither mini-skirts nor niqabs", and: "If you want to wear the niqab, do it at home."
Moderate Islamist parties have been winning elections since the toppling of dictators in the Arab Spring uprisings, including in Tunisia where Ennahda won the biggest bloc of votes in October 23 polls to dominate a 217-member assembly that will rewrite the constitution.
These were the country's first-ever democratic polls. Long-time Tunisian leader Zine el Abidine Ben Ali and his staunchly secular regime were ousted in a popular uprising in January.
Hardline Islamists, known as Salafists, have become more assertive in recent weeks.
"I came here because I am startled by what is going on in this country," a businessman among the protesters told AFP.
"The defenders of the niqab are being manipulated by Ennahda, which is testing their backward project at the university before imposing it on the rest of us," he said.
"The fanatics will have to step over our dead bodies to impose their vision of Tunisia," added tourism employee Mona Belhaj, holding up a poster reading: "My liberty is my religion."
Housewife Nour Chelbi, 62, said she would support all protests against the niqab.
"Those who like it can go live in Qatar or Yemen, we will not regress," she said.
Also at Thursday's demonstration were miners who pitched tents and said they would stay until their demands are met. They are angered over what they say were rigged hiring practices at a mining recruitment firm.
"We didn't make a revolution for that," communist leader Hama Hammami said. "People are hungry and don't have work and corruption is rampant."
Other demonstrators yelled at the palace, saying politics should not be practiced behind closed doors.
Ennahda is accused by some of seeking to concentrate all powers in the hands of the new prime minister, the party's number two Hamadi Jebali.
About 2,000 to 3,000 students, teachers, miners and other protesters gathered outside Bardo Palace, where Tunisian lawmakers are gathered to draft a new constitution.
The protest was partly a response to ongoing demonstrations at a university outside the capital, where Islamists disrupted classes demanding a stop to mixed-sex classes and for female students to wear the full-face veil, or niqab.
University professors among the group chanted: "No to extremism" and "Hands off the teachers", among other slogans.
Students held up placards with anti-niqab phrases including: "Neither mini-skirts nor niqabs", and: "If you want to wear the niqab, do it at home."
Moderate Islamist parties have been winning elections since the toppling of dictators in the Arab Spring uprisings, including in Tunisia where Ennahda won the biggest bloc of votes in October 23 polls to dominate a 217-member assembly that will rewrite the constitution.
These were the country's first-ever democratic polls. Long-time Tunisian leader Zine el Abidine Ben Ali and his staunchly secular regime were ousted in a popular uprising in January.
Hardline Islamists, known as Salafists, have become more assertive in recent weeks.
"I came here because I am startled by what is going on in this country," a businessman among the protesters told AFP.
"The defenders of the niqab are being manipulated by Ennahda, which is testing their backward project at the university before imposing it on the rest of us," he said.
"The fanatics will have to step over our dead bodies to impose their vision of Tunisia," added tourism employee Mona Belhaj, holding up a poster reading: "My liberty is my religion."
Housewife Nour Chelbi, 62, said she would support all protests against the niqab.
"Those who like it can go live in Qatar or Yemen, we will not regress," she said.
Also at Thursday's demonstration were miners who pitched tents and said they would stay until their demands are met. They are angered over what they say were rigged hiring practices at a mining recruitment firm.
"We didn't make a revolution for that," communist leader Hama Hammami said. "People are hungry and don't have work and corruption is rampant."
Other demonstrators yelled at the palace, saying politics should not be practiced behind closed doors.
Ennahda is accused by some of seeking to concentrate all powers in the hands of the new prime minister, the party's number two Hamadi Jebali.
Comments