Tunisians Protest Killing Of Opposition Leader
Nafeesa Syeed reports on the political reactions and protests in response to the killing of opposition leader Chokri Belaid, head of the Democratic Patriots Party. [Updated Feb. 7]
TUNIS, Tunisia — Outrage over the killing of a well-known opposition leader echoed across Tunisia's capital following what some are calling an unprecedented political assassination.
Chokri Belaid, a leftist and secularist who headed the Democratic Patriots party and openly criticized Ennahda, the ruling Islamist party, was gunned down outside his home early Wednesday, officials said. Two years after Tunisia's historic revolution, his death stunned the country's already-divided political landscape and populace as fingers pointed in divergent directions as to who was responsible.
On Thursday, Feb. 7, opposition newspapers ran their front pages in black, featuring images of Belaid and messages of mourning. Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, a member of Ennahda, said he would dissolve the government and replace it with a cabinet of “technocrats,” but Ennahda leaders have rebuffed Jebali's plan.
Belaid's funeral is scheduled for Friday and UGTT, Tunisia's influential labor union, has said it will hold a general strike the same day, deeming the late leader a “martyr of freedom.”
