Tunisia witnesses large demonstrations following assassination of political figure

Immediately after the assassination of opposition politician Mohamed Brahmi earlier Thursday, the Anti-government protests erupted in Tunisia where hundreds of people demanding the “fall of the regime” and shouting slogans hostile to the ruling Islamist party Ennahda gathered outside the Mahmoud Matri hospital in northern Tunis, where Brahmi was taken after being shot outside his home, local media reported. Several of the demonstrators waved Tunisian flags, photographs posted on Twitter showed. Hundreds more demonstrated outside the Interior Ministry on Habib Bourguiba avenue in central Tunis and in the central governorate of Sidi Bouzid, where Brahmi was born, according to local radio reports. Mohamed Brahmi was gunned down at his home in Tunis earlier Thursday, the second such assassination this year in Tuniaia which is often praised as the most stable of Arab Spring countries. Brahmi’s assassination, on the Republic Day national holiday, was announced by his party, the secular leftist Movement of the People. A party spokesman told local media the 58-year-old party coordinator was shot in front of his wife and daughter by unknown attackers. He was rushed to hospital where he died of his injuries, the spokesman told Radio Mosaique. Brahmi was a member of the National Constituent Assembly, which has seen intense debate over a new draft constitution. He was critical of the ruling Islamist party Ennahda and its coalition partners. Ennahda moved quickly to condemn the killing. “We absolutely condemn this heinous crime which targeted opposition politician M Brahmi and the democratic transition in Tunisia,” the party said on its Facebook page. Brahmi’s death deals another setback to Tunisia’s democratic transition, following the killing a little under six months ago of leading opposition politician Chokri Belaid. “It was their (the killers’) way of celebrating the Republic. The message is clear. They are against the state and the values of the Republic,” the executive director of Belaid’s Popular Front, Cherif Khyari Belaid’s party and family had accused Ennahda of having political responsibility for his death, which sparked mass anti-government protests. To ease tensions Ennahda agreed to bring more independents into government. Tunisia’s powerful UGTT labour confederation called for a general strike Friday to protest the assassination of opposition politician Mohamed Brahmi. The UGTT, which is the biggest mobilizing force in the country, said the strike was to protest terrorism and violence.