Posted on 02/08/2013 5:54:14 PM PST by Pan_Yan
Tunisian opposition leader Chokri Belaid was buried as a martyr for freedom and democracy in a country that is threatened with the loss of both, as an uprising against the ruling Islamist party gained momentum.
Mr. Belaid’s assassination triggered a ferocious backlash against the main Islamist party, Ennahda, one that continued during the funeral Friday, attended by as many as 100,000 people.
The midafternoon funeral on Friday was a largely peaceful event marred by bouts of violence – and brief periods of panic – as crowds tried to outrun billowing clouds of tear gas aimed at demonstrators and looters on the edges of the vast El Gellaz cemetery, the main burial site in central Tunis. The funeral came as Tunisia was paralyzed by a general strike that closed the airport, shut almost all stores and left the streets full of rotting garbage. Police arrested about 200 people for looting.
As Mr. Belaid was being buried, Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, a member of the moderate wing of Ennahda, ramped up his effort to appoint non-partisan ministers to run government departments. He wants the political parties freed up so they can devote their energies to writing the long-delayed constitution and launch early elections.
The murder of Mr. Belaid and his funeral were closely watched throughout Egypt and other parts of the Arab Spring world and appeared to mark a turning point in Tunisia’s tense and increasingly fractious political scene.
The opposition used Mr. Belaid’s slaying to galvanize the fight between the secular and Islamist visions of postrevolutionary Tunisia. That fight threatens to explode in the coming months, as the conservative wing of Ennahda resists pressure to dismantle the government and hold early elections.
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
We knew it would.
Is anyone shocked that peoplehaving once had any taste of freedom don’t want islam?
No way! The Arab spring was about peace!
a largely peaceful event marred by bouts of violence – and brief periods of panic
Boy, I’m glad that person isn’t a weather man.
Tunisian opposition leader Chokri Belaid was buried as a martyr for freedom and democracy... as an uprising against the ruling... Islamist party, Ennahda, one that continued during the funeral Friday... a largely peaceful event marred by bouts of violence -- and brief periods of panic... as Tunisia was paralyzed by a general strike that closed the airport, shut almost all stores and left the streets full of rotting garbage... Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, a member of the moderate wing of Ennahda, ramped up his effort to appoint non-partisan ministers to run government departments.IOW, please note -- this is a radical Islamofascist uprising against a moderate gov't -- IOW, terms like "martyr for freedom and democracy" and referring to the "Islamist party" in control is part of a spin-doctor's media drumbeat to manufacture consent for another Islamofascist dictatorship. The BBC article I'd seen about this stated that Jebali "repeated his offer to replace the government with a cabinet of technocrats and call early elections." The dead guy was masterminding a campaign of murder and terror against political opponents, including leaders in other parties and factions, so it's anyone's guess as to who got to him first.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shokri_Belaid
[snip] He worked as a lawyer and was also part of the defence team of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein during his trial for crimes against humanity [/snip] (gosh, he’s a regular John Adams)
Oh, and he helped run Ben Ali out of town.
Tunisia: Protecting Ben Ali’s Feminist Legacy
http://thinkafricapress.com/tunisia/future-state-feminism
Tunisia: Draft Constitution Reflects Compromise
http://thinkafricapress.com/tunisia/draft-constitution
Tunisia’s Dangerous Identity Politics
http://thinkafricapress.com/tunisia/identity-politics
Tunisia’s New Government Takes Shape [2011]
http://thinkafricapress.com/tunisia/new-government-takes-shape
Enahdda is the Muslim Brotherhood backed party. The guy who was killed was a socialist.
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