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Tunisians Mourn Slain Opposition Leader

by VOA News February 08, 2013

Clashes between police and protesters broke out in Tunis Friday during the funeral of a slain secular opposition leader. Tens of thousands of mourners poured into the streets of the Tunisian capital for the burial procession for Cholri Belaid, gunned down earlier this week as he left his Tunis home.

VOA reporter Lisa Bryant in Tunis said police also used tear gas at the cemetery to make way for the funeral marchers. 'Hundreds and thousands of people just ran from the tear gas,' Bryant said. 'It was everywhere. One of the reasons is because there was just too many people and one of the reasons is that people where apparently setting cars on fire outside.'

​​Many mourners chanted anti-Islamist slogans as they surged around an open army truck carrying Belaid's coffin, draped in a red-and-white Tunisian flag. Some denounced Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of the ruling Islamist Ennahda party as an 'assassin.' Elsewhere in the capital, cars were set on fire.

Belaid was shot to death at close range Wednesday. His attacker fled on a motorcycle. Hours later, protests began across the country and have been continuing for days.

Related video by Jeff Seldin and Mark Snowiss
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​​Outrage and blame

In response, Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali this week announced a plan to dismiss the current government - a move the opposition welcomed.

But Jebali's deputy in the ruling Ennahda party has publicly rejected the plan. The rejection highlights divisions within the party.

Belaid's family and secularist supporters blame Ennahda for complicity in the assassination, but have offered no evidence. There has been no claim of responsibility.

But in the nation that give birth last year to the Arab Spring movement, there are fears of regression.

'A lot of people are worried about what is going to happen to their revolution, what's happening to Tunisia,' VOA's Bryant said, speaking from the scene of protests in Tunis.

Whether or not the moderate Ennahda party had anything to do with Belaid's death, the killing may represent an even bigger problem: the inability of the country's dominant Islamist political organization to forge compromise between secularists and Islamists.

'Secular opposition forces and Islamist forces don't really want to compromise,' said Middle East analyst Haim Malka, who is with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. 'Islamists were marginalized.

'They were repressed under previous regimes,' he added. 'Now they are serving in majority-led governments and oftentimes feel they don't need to compromise because now is their time.'

Malka said those mourning Belaid's death fear Tunisia's legacy of tolerance could be slipping away, as the ruling party turns a blind eye to attacks by ultraconservative Salafi Islamists on liquor stores, art exhibits and anyone deemed impious.

Eric Goldstein of Human Rights Watch, who is currently in Tunis, said in an interview that he believes Tunisians will ultimately reject extremism.

"This is not a country where political differences have been settled by liquidations, and so this was a wake-up call for a lot of people,' he said. 'Is this where we want to go? Is this our future?'

VOA's Mark Snowiss, Jeff Seldin and Carla Babb contributed to this report.