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Anti-American rioting spread yesterday to Tunisia, where police used tear gas to stop hundreds of protesters from storming the United States Embassy in protest over a film mocking the prophet Mohammed.
The throngs of demonstrators, who carried the white and black banners of militant Salifist Muslims, had been protesting peacefully in Tunis for hours when about 300 started to break through the embassy gates.
The embassy remained open as police forced the protesters back.
Earlier, the US embassies in Tunisia and Algeria warned Americans to avoid crowded places because of expected protests.
In Egypt, the powerful Muslim Brotherhood ensured that the controversy wont end soon by calling for peaceful nationwide protests tomorrow outside all the main mosques . . . to denounce offenses to religion and to the prophet.
Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil said the United States should take a firm stand with the movies producers and act in accordance with international agreements that criminalize actions that create sectarian strife on the basis of race, color or religion.
The country has been wracked by political unrest since the July 25 murder of opposition lawmaker Mohammed Brahmi and Tuesdays protests marked the biggest anti-government demonstration since the assassination. A police official estimated that 40,000 people crowded the streets of Tunis to call for the government led by the moderate Islamic movement Ennahda to step down. Opposition leaders cited in local media put the crowd figure at 100,000 to 200,000. Earlier on Tuesday, the National Constituent Assembly (ANC) a body elected in 2011 to forge consensus on a new constitution was suspended. Brahmis murder, as well as that of another opposition politician, Chokri Belaid, have been blamed on radical Islamists, with the Ennahda-led Cabinet criticized for not doing enough to prevent them.
The demonstration attracted a mixed bag of opposition parties, ranging from extreme left to center-right, and was timed to mark six months since Belaid was gunned down outside his home. Protesters carried pictures of both Belaid and Brahmi and shouted slogans, such as: The people want the regime to fall and The government will end today. The march was peacefull. Assembly speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar said the ANCs work would be halted until the government and opposition opened negotiations to break the deadlock in the service of Tunisia. Brahmis killing had already prompted several opposition members to boycott the ANC and its suspension was a key demand of the protesters on the street.
However, the stalemate showed no sign of ending, with the opposition refusing to hold talks with the government until it steps down and Ennahda ruling out any dialogue conditional on its ouster. Larayedh has refused to quit, offering instead to broaden the coalition. Ben Jaafar criticized the countrys politicians for failing to find a compromise as Tunisia also battles mounting terror threats. Despite the gravity of the situation and instead of working towards unity, unfortunately party leaders have gone in the opposite direction, towards division, by mobilizing street protests, he said.
Since the ANC was elected in October 2011, political leaders have failed to find a consensus on a new constitution following a revolution that ousted longtime former Tunisian president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. The suspension of the assemblys work throws into question Tunisian Prime Minister Ali Larayedhs target of the ANC adopting a new constitution and electoral law by Oct. 23 ahead of a Dec. 17 election. Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi, quoted in La Presse newspaper on Tuesday, said the government will not step down under pressure from the street, while Larayedh charged that demonstrators were hampering efforts by security forces to root out gunmen linked to al-Qaeda.
Tunisians demand that government quits, crisis grows - Taipei Times
Crowds protested late Friday outside the government finance buildings in the low-income neighborhood of Ettaddamon over new taxes levied by the outgoing government described as necessary to fill yawning holes in the country's budget. The tax hikes were hastily suspended by the outgoing prime minister, but the decision failed to calm angry crowds and casts doubt on future government efforts to rein in spending and raise revenues.
Police reported that local criminals took advantage and began looting stores and clashing with authorities. They were dispersed with tear gas, Interior Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui said Saturday. Nearly 50 people were arrested in clashes in suburbs of Tunis, Aroui said. In another clash, one young protester was killed and a police officer was injured in the town of Bouchebka on the Algerian border, Aroui said. He said an investigation is under way into what happened.
Protesters throw stones during clashes with riot police close to a tax office in Ettadhamen, Tunisia, 5 kms (3 miles) from Tunis, Friday, Jan. 10, 2014. Clashes erupted in Ettadhamen, near Tunis late Friday evening between police and demonstrators as discontent mounts over new taxes levied by the government late Friday
The latest riots came hours after a new caretaker prime minister, Mehdi Jomaa, was charged with forming a technocratic cabinet to guide the country to new elections. "I will do everything in my power to confront the challenges, overcome the obstacles and restore stability and security to Tunisia," the new prime minister told reporters after the swearing-in. Since Tunisia overthrew its authoritarian president in 2011 and set off revolutions around the Arab world, this small Mediterranean country's economy has suffered, fueling social unrest.
In the restive aftermath of Tunisia's revolution, tourists fled, factories were shuttered by strikes, investment evaporated and inflation soared, worsening most residents' daily lives. International ratings agencies downgraded the country's credit rating to junk status, making borrowing on the international markets more difficult. After the economy shrank 2 percent in 2011, growth returned at 2.7 percent in 2013, but that is far below the level needed to create jobs. Unemployment hovers at 17 percent.
News from The Associated Press
Scattered protests over economic hardships have broken out as Tunisia's new prime minister takes office to lead a caretaker administration to end a crisis three years after its uprising ousted Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. Tunisia's 2011 revolt and the region-wide Arab Spring uprisings were triggered by a street vendor in Sidi Bouzid setting himself alight in an act of protest.
After months of crisis, the Islamist party which came to power after the revolt resigned this week to make way for Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa's technocrat government until elections this year to complete Tunisia's democratic transition. Many Tunisians are more worried about the high cost of living, jobs and economic development. Protesters have taken to the streets this week in southern cities to protest against fiscal reforms including a vehicle tax hike.
Tunisia's state news agency TAP said one man was shot and killed when police clashed with protesters trying to ransack a customs office near the southern city of Kasserine. Assailants attacked the border point of Bouchebka with Molotov cocktails and hunting rifles to steal its takings, and one customs officer was gravely injured, the interior ministry spokesman told TAP.
Protesters also clashed with police in the upscale La Marsa area of the capital Tunis when they tried to storm a police station, TAP said. In the impoverished Ettadamon district, protesters attacked two bank branches and a government treasury office on Friday night, a Reuters journalist said. Strikes and protests started in the southern and central towns of Kasserine, Thala and Gafsa last Tuesday and spilled over into Tunis, after calls from transport and agricultural unions against the reforms. The 2014 budget sets out new taxes to help the government increase public finances - a demand from international lenders which want the government to reduce the country's budget deficit and control public subsidies.
One Shot Dead as Protesters Clash with Police Across Tunisia
