Tension is mounting in the North African country before an election later this month that will pit conservatives against secularists who say their liberal values are under threat.

The radicals were protesting against a ban on women who wear the niqab, or full-face veil, enrolling in university, and the decision by a Tunisian television station to broadcast an animated film deemed blasphemous.

Several hundred protesters gathered outside the main university campus in Tunis, and from there went to the working-class neighborhood of Jebel El-Ahmar, north of the city center, where the clashes with police broke out.

About 100 police vehicles, and several hundred police officers wearing anti-riot gear were deployed. A Reuters reporter said he saw several officers running away to escape the protesters. The mainly young protesters blocked a main road and threw stones at vehicles trying to get through. They shouted: “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) and “We will die for Allah!”

Tunisians will vote in an Oct. 23 election for an assembly to draft a new constitution. The radical Ennahda party is expected to win the biggest share of the vote, alarming secularists who have traditionally dominated the ruling elite.

An Ennahda official condemned Sunday’s violence. “I am against infringing on the sentiments of people and their religion, but that does not stop us being completely against violence, whatever form it is in,” said the official, Ali Larayad.”We are in favor of peaceful protests to demand rights and on principle we condemn violence.”

Tunisia became the birthplace of the “Arab Spring” uprisings in January when mass protests ousted president Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali.

The new caretaker government scheduled democratic elections and allowed radicals to run for the first time, unleashing a tense debate about the role of religion in society.

The latest round of unrest broke out on Saturday when conservatives tried to storm a university in Sousse, about 150 km south of Tunis. Administrators, enforcing a government ruling, had refused to enrol a woman wearing the niqab.

Earlier on Sunday, radicals protested outside the offices of the private Nessma television station in the center of Tunis. The station had broadcast an animated film which the protesters said violated the rules of Islam. Witnesses said about 300 protesters, some with sticks and knives, tried to set fire to the TV station but were prevented by a large number of police. At least 40 people were arrested, the witnesses said.