Anti-France protest held in Tunis

TUNIS: Thousands of people protested in central Tunis yesterday shouting pro-government and anti-French slogans, a day after the funeral of a murdered opposition figure became a mass rally against the ruling party. “France get out!” and “The people want to protect the legitimacy” of the government were among slogans chanted by Ennahda party supporters who numbered more than 3,000, AFP journalists estimated.
“Enough, France! Tunisia will never again be a French colony,” proclaimed some of banners waved by protesters.
The pro-Ennahda demonstration took place on Habib Bourguiba Avenue, epicenter of the 2011 revolution that toppled ex-dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, close to the French Embassy.
The thoroughfare was bustling, with cafes full and shops reopened after a general strike the previous day. Police in riot armor and plainclothes officers patrolled yesterday, but gone were the tear gas and running street battles.
The party called the protest to “defend the legitimacy of the national constituent assembly,” in which the Ennahda-dominated coalition holds a majority, to fight “against (political) violence” and “French interference.”
The anti-French slogans came in response to comments by French Interior Minister Manuel Valls, who denounced what he called “Islamist fascism” after Chokri Belaid, an outspoken critic of conservatives, was shot dead outside his home on Wednesday.