TUNIS: Hundreds of Tunisians joined a rally in central Tunis, defying a police blockade on the city centre, to commemorate the anniversary of the assassination of a leftist politician.
Protesters marched through the centre of the capital holding portraits of slain opposition politicians Chokri Belaid and Mohammed Brahmi, demanding their killers be brought to justice.
In anticipation of the protest, security forces closed entrances leading to the Avenue Habib Bourguiba, the city’s main street.
But protesters were able to move past the security barriers, witnesses said, some chanting slogans such as: “No fear, no terror, the street belongs to the people”.
Belaid was gunned down in February 2013 outside his house near Tunis. The murder plunged Tunisia into a political crisis that was exacerbated by the assassination six months later of Brahmi, another opposition lawmaker.
The ruling coalition resigned in the wake of the killings.
Protesters on Saturday also condemned what they called “arbitrary arrests” following recent demonstrations across Tunisia against economic hardship compounded by the pandemic.
Leftist politicians and representatives of the powerful Tunisian General Labour Union were among the participants in Saturday’s march, according to news agency TAP.
Tunisia has experienced an economic slowdown amid unrest and attacks by insurgents since the uprising that toppled long-time ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. — dpa
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