REPORT: Tunisian pro-government protesters rally, condemn "French interference"

Several thousand supporters of Tunisia's ruling moderate Islamist party rallied in the capital in a pro-government demonstration Saturday, a day after the funeral of an assassinated opposition politician. Protesters hurled insults at France, accusing the former colonial ruler of interfering in the North African country's politics.                   

The ruling Ennahda party had called for a show of support for the constitutional assembly, whose work on a new constitution suffered a severe setback after the killing of Chokri Belaid on Feb. 6 when leftist parties withdrew their participation. It said the demonstration would also protest "French interference" after comments earlier in the week by French Interior Minister Manuel Valls, who denounced Belaid's killing as an attack on "the values of Tunisia's Jasmine revolution."                    

Demonstrators gathered in front of the National Theater on Tunis' main boulevard, waving flags of the Ennahda party and shouting "Get out, France."                        

In this context, Prime Minister and Secretary General of Ennahda Islamic Movement Hamadi Jebali hinted that he would resign in case his efforts to form a new, technocratic government to guide the country to elections fail.    


AP/LBCI

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